Columbia  (Hnit^er^ftj) 

THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


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John  Robinson 


Z\)t  Piltjrim  ^Sastor 


OZORA    S.   DAVIS 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

PROFESSOR     WILLISTON     WALKER 


BOSTON 
New    York  ^^t)t     ^^jlgdm     ^Xti^B  Chicago 


^. 


R.  S^3 


^         Copyright,  1903 
By  Ozora  S.  Davis 


TO     PROFESSORS 

CHESTER     DAVID     HARTRANFT 

MELANCTHON     WILLIAMS     JACOBUS 

and 

WILLISTON     WALKER 

My   Teachers  in  the  Hartford  Thcolosjical  Seim'nanj  front 
1891   to   1804 


INTRODUCTION 

Principles  become  attractive  through  their  illus- 
tration in  human  lives;  and  any  movement,  whether 
religious  or  political,  which  is  founded  on  great 
principles,  is  fortunate  if  it  has  a  commanding;  per- 
sonality associated  with  its  initiation.  In  a  Wash- 
ington one  sees  embodied  that  which  was  noblest  in 
the  American  Revolution,  and  in  a  similar  way  a 
Luther  or  a  Wesley  is  typical  and  illustrative  of  the 
great  movements  associated  with  their  names.  In 
studying  their  lives  we  best  understand  the  causes 
for  which  they  labored,  and  gain  most  of  inspiration 
for  ourselves.  Congregationalism  has  no  one  man 
who  stands  so  supreme  in  the  story  of  its  beginnings 
as  Wesley  in  those  of  Methodism  or  as  Knox  in  the 
leadership  of  the  Scotch  Reformation.  It  bears  the 
name  of  no  single  compelling  leader  as  Lutheranism 
does,  for  none  of  its  founders  stood  in  quite  the  rela- 
tionship to  it  that  Luther  bore  to  the  German  Refor- 
mation. But  if  it  has  had,  thus,  no  one  leader  of 
such  conspicuous  preeminence,  Congregationalism 
has  had  its  founders,  its  martyrs  and  its  exiles,  to 
whom  it  delights  to  pay  its  reverence;  and  of  these 
early  worthies  none  was  more  attractive  in  his  char- 
acter, more  wide-reaching  in  his  influence,  or  more 
deserving  of  lasting  remembrance,  than  John  Robin- 
son.   Several  of  the  leaders  of  early  Congregational- 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

ism  were  men  in  whom  allegiance  to  the  truths  for 
which  they  labored  and  sacrificed  was  associated 
with  intolerance  and  a  considerable  degree  of  unchar- 
itableness  of  judgment  towards  opponents,  faults  of 
temper,  largely  explainable,  indeed,  by  reason  of  the 
strenuous  and  unequal  contest  in  which  they  were 
engaged  and  the  bitterness  of  the  opposition  which 
they  encountered.  One  of  the  founders  of  Congre- 
gationalism, Robert  Browne,  made  his  peace  with 
the  enemies  of  the  principles  for  which  he  for  a  time 
strenuously  contended,  and  died  repudiated  by  early 
Congregationalists,  who  refused  to  be  called  by  his 
name  or  to  be  considered  his  disciples. 

No  such  imperfections  meet  us  in  the  character  of 
John  Robinson.  Broad-minded,  charitable  for  his 
age,  far-visioned,  he  stood  firmly  for  the  truths  for 
which  he  endured  exile,  and  yet  thought  charitably 
and  kindly  of  those  who  differed  from  him  in  belief. 
He  was  a  strong,  sweet,  earnest,  simple,  brave,  self- 
sacrificing  pastor.  In  him  early  Separatist  Congre- 
gationalism appeared  at  its  best,  and  in  studying  him 
one  sees  revealed  what  was  truest  and  noblest  in  its 
principles.  Nor  is  it  simply  the  charm  of  his  own 
personal  character  that  makes  Robinson  attractive 
to  the  student  of  his  career.  He,  beyond  any  other 
leader  of  early  Congregationalism,  was  the  moulding 
force  in  the  training  of  the  founders  of  Plymouth. 
From  the  time  when  he  first  threw  in  his  lot  with  the 
Congregational  worshipers  at  Scrooby,  probably  in 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

1604,  till  the  day  on  which  he  bade  farewell  to  the 
emigrants  about  to  sail  on  the  "  Speedwell"  for  their 
long  voyage  to  the  new  world,  his  was  the  most 
potent  influence  in  the  spiritual  education  of  the 
Pilgrim  Church.  A  man  of  ripe  scholarship,  a  grad- 
uate himself  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  a 
respected,  if  humble,  member  of  the  community  of 
scholars  gathered  about  the  University  at  Ley  den, 
he  was  well  equipped  to  be  the  intellectual  leader 
of  the  company  of  which  he  was  pastor.  But  his 
moulding  influence  upon  them  was  even  more  that 
of  the  temper  and  the  spirit  than  of  the  intellect,  for 
the  personal  qualities  of  Robinson  became  through 
his  example  and  teaching  largely  those  of  the  Pil- 
grim congregation  itself.  To  have  been  under  his 
ministry  was,  to  such  men  as  Bradford,  a  training  in 
firmness  of  purpose,  in  single-minded  devotion  to 
truth,  and,  above  all,  in  kindliness  of  feeling.  In  this 
wa}^  he  helped  to  make  the  story  of  the  beginnings  at 
Plymouth  one  in  which  all  lovers  of  New  England 
delight. 

Though  Robinson  never  beheld  the  new  land  to 
which  he  sent  so  large  a  part  of  the  congregation  that 
he  had  guided  and  whither  he  himself  earnestly  de- 
sired to  go,  and  though  he  died  in  the  city  of  his 
Dutch  exile  before  the  colony  across  the  sea  had  fully 
demonstrated  its  power  to  live  in  its  new  environ- 
ment, he  was,  as  truly  as  any  man  who  crossed  the 
Atlantic,  one  of  the  fathers  of  New  England.     One 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

may  justly  say  of  him  that  if  we  reckon  importance 
by  influence,  by  encouragement  of  associates,  by  the 
spirit  which  he  instilled  into  a  great  enterprise,  no 
other  founder  of  the  Pilgrim  colony  has  higher  claims 
to  grateful  remembrance  than  this  leader  who  never 
set  foot  upon  its  soil.  Others  courageously  executed 
the  task  for  which  his  patient  ministry  had  done 
much  to  fit  them;  and  the  inspiration  to  their  en- 
deavor was  largely  his  work.  As  such,  whether 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  one  interested  in 
the  development  of  a  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church,  or  of  one  investigating  the  beginnings  of 
American  colonization  and  political  life,  the  career 
of  John  Robinson  is  of  permanent  significance. 

Robinson's  importance  has  long  been  recognized 
by  writers  on  the  beginnings  of  New  England  or  the 
story  of  Congregationalism.  His  works  were  col- 
lected and  printed  and  his  life  made  the  subject  of  a 
brief  biographical  sketch  by  Robert  Ashton.^  Dr. 
Henry  M.  Dexter  presented  his  portrait  at  consid- 
erable length  in  his  monumental  volume  on  the 
beginnings  of  CongregationaUsm.  2  But  not  a  little 
remains  for  the  patient  gleaner  in  this  field,  and 
Dr.  Davis'  investigations  and  discussions  show  in 
how  large  a  measure  the  life  of  this  noble  Congre- 
gational   leader   still    may   reward   the    study   de- 

^  "The  Works  of  John  Robinson."     London.      1851. 
^  "  The  Congregationalism  of  the  last  Three  Hundred  Years,  as  Seen 
in  its  Literature."     New  York.     1880. 


IXTRODUCTION  ix 

voted  to  it.  and  i^  still  fruitful  in  lessons  of  perman- 
ent value  as  inspiration  for  self-sacrificing  Christian 
consecration. 

WILLISTON  WALKER. 


PREFACE 

This  study  of  a  personality  rich  in  significance  to 
the  rehgious  history  of  England  and  America  has 
been  carried  on  in  the  midst  of  a  pastorate,  and  has 
formed  for  five  years  an  avocation  of  increasing 
profit  and  delight.  It  rests  upon  an  investigation 
of  the  sources  in  Robinson's  preserved  writings  and 
in  available  contemporary  literature.  The  writer's 
purpose  has  been  to  set  the  hving  man  in  true  rela- 
tionship to  his  own  time,  and  to  estimate  his  real 
contribution  to  the  history  of  the  church  with  which 
his  name  is  most  closely  associated. 

It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  vitalize  a  controversy 
which  has  been  dead  for  more  than  two  centuries. 
And  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize  the  intensity  with 
which  such  a  bygone  issue  could  assert  its  para- 
mount importance  to  the  mind  of  one  who  thought 
and  acted  so  long  ago.  We  must  awaken  imagina- 
tion before  we  can  set  ourselves  sympathetically  into 
the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
writer  sincerely  hopes  that  he  has  not  introduced  so 
many  details  that  the  imagination  of  any  reader  of 
this  biography  will  be  clogged  through  their  excess. 
There  are  many  events  in  the  story  of  John  Robin- 
son's life  which  we  have  been  unable  to  rescue  from 
oblivion;  yet  the  main  Hues  along  which  his  Hfe 
moved  are  clear.     Behind  all   tlicse  controversies, 

xi 


xii  PREFACE 

now  forgotten  and  dusty,  is  a  real  man.  We  have  to 
do  with  a  character  who  struggles  and  grows.  Many 
specific  details  that  concern  dates  and  places  are 
obscure;  the  conflict  and  triumph  of  the  living  man 
are  plainly  evident.  This  person  we  have  sought  to 
bring  forward  into  the  light. 

Without  the  assistance  and  encouragement  of  Rev. 
W.  H.  Cobb,  D.D.,  Librarian  of  the  Congregational 
Library  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  Professor 
Williston  Walker  of  Yale  University,  the  work 
never  could  have  been  completed.  This  debt  the 
writer  gratefully  acknowledges  here.  His  heartiest 
thanks  are  also  extended  to  Mr.  Herbert  R.  Gibbs 
and  Miss  Sarah  L.  Patrick  for  their  invaluable  aid 
in  the  preparation  and  publication  of  the  manu- 
script. 

Newton viLLE,  Massachusetts. 

July,  1903. 


TABLE  OF  CONTJiNTS 


Chapter  Pages 

I     The  Anglican  Reformation  and  its  Results 

IN  the  Year  1606  .....  1 

II     Separatist  Congregations  in  Gainsborough 

AND   SCROOBY  ......  39 

III  The  Life  of  John  Robinson  until  He  Joins 

the  Separatist  Congregation  in  Scrooby       52 

IV  The  Emigration  of  the  Scrooby  Congregation 

TO  Leyden  and  their  Life  there         .          .  79 
V    The  Separation  as  Defined  and  Defended  by 

Robinson  .  .  .  .  .  .106 

VI     Settlement  in  Leyden  .  .  .  .131 

VII     The  Champion  of  Calvinism  ....  146 

VIII     The  Great  Controversy  Concerning  Fellow- 
ship               163 

IX     Church  Polity  in  Leyden  and  Amsterdam     .  1S7 

X     Prosperous  Years  in  Leyden         .          .          .  203 

XI     The  Movement  to  America   ....  22.5 

XII     The  So-Called  "Farewell  Address''    .  241 

XIII  The  "Essays" 265 

XIV  The  Last  Years  in  Leyden   ....  301 
XV     The  Man  and  His  Place  in  History         .          .  336 


I 

JOHN  ROBINSON 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   ANGLICAN    REFORMATION   AND  ITS  RESULTS 
IN   THE   YEAR   1G06 

In  any  effort  to  understand  a  person  in  history 
two  factors  must  be  reckoned  with.  One  of  these 
is  the  world  in  which  the  person  lived.  A  child  is 
born  into  a  social  order;  he  comes  into  it  bringing 
with  him  positive  tendencies  which  shape  his  char- 
acter and  influence  his  choices.  This  inheritance 
is  a  part  of  his  environment.  The  whole  sphere 
in  which  he  finds  himself  also  acts  upon  his 
choices,  and  enters  into  the  entire  process  of  his 
growth.  Hereditary  tendencies  and  changing  sur- 
roundings are  necessary  keys  if  we  are  to  open 
the  doors  which  allow  us  to  enter  the  secret 
chambers  of  a  person's  soul.  Something  far  more 
important  than  these  is  necessary,  however.  When 
one  knows  the  ancestry  and  the  times  of  Luther  or 
of  Lincoln  one  is  far  from  ready  to  attempt  to 
interpret  the  man  to  us.  Every  j^ersonality  is 
acted  upon;  but  he  acts.  There  is  in  him  a  mighty 
energy  of  personal  and  peculiar  force  by  means  of 
which  he  impresses  himself  upon  his  time.  This 
mighty  fact  of  the  free  spirit  of  man,  which  often 

3 


4  JOHN  ROBINSON 

defies  all  the  laws  of  heredity  and  environment,  so 
far  at  least  as  they  have  yet  been  framed,  is  the 
supreme  factor  in  the  effort  to  understand  a  per- 
son. The  last  detail  in  regard  to  the  inherited 
traits  of  John  Robinson  might  be  known  ;  the 
conditions  of  life  and  thought  in  that  far-away 
time  when  he  lived  might  be  comprehended;  and 
still  we  might  be  far  from  an  adequate  understand- 
ing of  the  man  himself.  We  should  still  need  to 
enter  into  the  motives  which  he  shaped  for  himself 
to  control  his  action.  We  should  require  an  insight 
into  the  ideals  tovv'ard  the  realization  of  w^hich  he 
strove.  ^Ye  should  need  to  see  the  real  man  acting 
upon  his  time  with  something  which  seems  almost 
like  creative  energy. 

To  reach  this  deepest-hidden  but  most  impor- 
tant factor  the  necessary  way  of  approach  is 
through  intimate  knowledge  of  the  world  in  which 
he  lived,  as  acting  upon  him  and  acted  upon  by 
him.  The  first  task  before  us,  therefore,  is  to 
attempt  to  set  the  life  of  John  Robinson,  who  is 
commonly  knovv^n  as  the  "  Pastor  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,"  closely  into  its  vital  connection  with  the 
movements  of  religious  thought  and  action  in 
England  and  Holland  between  the  years  1575  and 
1625.  This  will  not  be  so  difficult  or  complex  an 
effort  as  might  seem  at  first  thought.     Robinson's 


TIIK  AXaUCAN  REFORMATION  5 

life  was  hound  uj)  very  closely  with  one  religious 
movement.  He  was  absorljed  in  one  line  of  activ- 
ity. He  lived  in  the  radical  movements  of  the 
Anglican  Reformation. 

We  must  sketch  briefly,  then,  the  growth  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  in  England  until  the  acces- 
sion of  King  James  I,  in  1603,  and  also  outline  the 
general  plan  of  organization  assumed  by  the  Church 
of  England  when  the  policy  of  this  king  had  become 
fixed,  say  in  the  year  160G. 

England  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  spread 
of  the  Protestant  movement.  The  claims  of  Rome 
had  never  been  so  thoroughly  acknowledged  in  the 
island  kingdom  as  they  had  been  on  the  continent. 
The  Bible  had  been  translated  early,  and  w^as  read 
extensively  both  in  churches  and  among  the  com- 
mon people.  The  English,  too,  were  by  nature 
peculiarly  loyal  to  their  monarch  in  the  matter  of 
all  claims  which  he  might  make  for  freedom  from 
external  authority.  When  King  Henry  \Ill  in- 
herited the  kingdom  which  his  father  had  organ- 
ized with  consummate  skill  in  the  interests  of 
absolutism,  he  found  everything  at  the  feet  of  the 
crown  except  the  Church.  The  reorganization 
of  the  Church  which  was  effected  during  his  reign 
was  really  made  possible  by  this  independent 
temper    of    the    English    ]ieople.     And    the   Act 


6  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  Supremacy,  passed  in  November,  1534,  by 
which  the  king  was  declared  to  be  ''the  only 
supreme  head  in  earth  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, called  Anglicana  Ecclesia, "  ^  did  not 
involve  any  radical  changes  in  doctrine  or  deeply 
concern  the  Roman  Catholic  subjects  in  the  king's 
realm.  For  Henry  VIII  could  not  be  called  a 
Protestant.  He  won  his  title  '' Defender  of  the 
Faith''  by  an  attack  on  Luther.  It  is  a  rather 
grim  commentary  on  the  general  inconsistency  of 
the  situation  that,  by  the  royal  sanction,  Protes- 
tants who  denied  Ptoman  Catholic  doctrine,  and 
Roman  Catholics  who  denied  the  royal  supremacy 
were  burned  or  hanged  at  the  same  time.  The  Six 
Articles,  passed,  after  a  discussion  in  which  the 
king  himself  participated,  by  Convocation  and 
Parliament  in  1539,  sanctioned  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation;  declared  that  communion  in 
both  bread  and  wine  is  not  necessary  to  all  per- 
sons; affirmed  that  priests  might  not  marry;  that 
vows  of  chastity  and  widowhood  must  be  observed; 
that  private  masses  were  to  be  continued;  and  that 
auricular  confession  was  expedient  and  necessary. 
So  far  as  there  was  a  party  whose  policy  was 
to  advance  still  farther  along  lines  of  Protestant 

^  The  Act  is  in  Gee  and  Hardy,  "Documents  Illustrative  of  English 
Church  Histor3%"  London,  Macmillan,  1896,  pp.  243,244.     I  shall  cite 
his  collection  hereafter  as  "G.  <fe  H.  " 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORM ATION  7 

doctrine,  it  was  not  j)erniancntly  successful  in  its 
efforts  under  the  leadership  of  Thomas  Cromwell. 
But  on  the  accession  of  King  Edward  Vl  (1547- 
1553),  the  Protestant  movement  found  a  larger 
possibility  for  supremacy  opening  before  it.  An 
Act  was  passed  January  21,  1549,  in  which  the 
use  of  a  book  of  Conmion  Prayer  was  prescribed 
for  the  whole  realm.  ^  This  secured  uniformity  in 
respect  to  a  book.  The  form  enjoined  was 
modeled  more  closely  after  those  used  in  Sarum 
than  according  to  any  other  use.  It  was  a  most 
important  event  for  the  history  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  ^  and  marks  the  growth  of  Protestant 
influences  in  its  development.  These  influences 
were  exerted  not  only  in  the  direction  of  polity, 
but  also  upon  the  formal  doctrine  of  the  Cliurch. 
This  deliberate  attempt  to  get  rid  of  obnoxious 
Roman  Catholic  doctrine  was  persistent  from  the 
time  of  the  death  of  King  Henry  VIII.  ^  In  a 
Second  Act"^  of  Uniformity  in  1552,  a  changed 
form  of  Common  Prayer  was  imposed  upon  the 
people.     This  act  also  prescribed  penalties  against 

'SeeG.  &H.  pp.  358  ff. 

-See  Wakeman,  "An  Introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Church  of 
England."     Rivington,  London,  1897,  p.  274  ff. 

•''  "The  Condition  of  Morals  and  Religious  Belief  in  the  Reign  of  Ed- 
ward VI.'"  By  the  Rev.  Nichola.s  Pocock.  English  Historical  Review. 
July,  1895.  pp.  417-445. 

*G.  &  H..  3(39  ff. 


8  JOHN  ROBINSON 

all  laymen  who  should  refuse  to  attend  services 
at  which  the  form  was  used.  Thus  action  against 
recusants  began. 

Under  the  lead  of  Cranmer,  meantime,  a  con- 
fession of  faith,  catechism  and  primer  were  being 
compiled.  Forty-two  articles  of  faith  were  pub- 
lished by  royal  authority  in  1553.  These  subse- 
quently became  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  of  the 
Anglican  Church. 

All  these  changes,  however,  rested  upon  most 
insecure  foundations.  The  mass  of  the  people  were 
not  ready  for  any  radical  alterations  in  the  doc- 
trine or  polity  of  the  Church,  and  when  King  Ed- 
ward VI  was  succeeded  by  Queen  Mary  in  1553, 
an  intense  Roman  Catholic  reaction  was  brought 
about  quite  easily.  The  first  proclamation  of  the 
queen,  published  August  18,  1553,  ^  announced  the 
faith  which  she  held,  and  expressed  the  wish, 
which  every  one  knew  was  her  will,  that  her 
loving  subjects  should  quietly  embrace  it.  This 
proclamation  was  quickly  followed  by  her  first 
Act  of  Repeal,  ^  in  w^hich  acts  passed  during  the 
reign  of  King  Edward  VI  were  repealed,  and  the 
religious  constitution  of  the  realm  was  practically 
restored  to  that  obtaining  when  King  Henry  VIII 
died  in  1547. 

^G.  «&H.,p.  373ff.         -Ibid.,p.  377ff. 


77//;  AXCLICAN  REFORMATION  9 

But  the  qiioon  did  not  pause  here.  Late  in  1554 
her  second  Act  of  Rei)eal  ^  was  passed.  This 
restored  the  ecclesiastical  conditions  of  the  year 
1529.  England  was  a  Roman  Catholic  countiy. 
I^rotestant  heretics  were  exiled,  imprisoned  and 
executed.  It  seems  very  unlikely  that  there  were 
any  congregations  organized  according  to  the 
model  of  King  Edward  VI,  which  maintained 
their  existence  in  England  secretly  during  the 
reign  of  Queen  Mary.  The  line  of  development 
which  we  inust  follow  is  to  be  taken  up  in  those 
cities  of  the  continent  to  which  the  Protestant 
leaders  and  members  of  their  congregations  fled 
during  the  Roman  Catholic  reaction  effected  by 
the  queen. 

Following  out  this  line  of  development,  we  find 
ourselves  concerned  with  the  action  of  one  of  these 
congregations  which  was  composed  of  families 
who  settled  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main  in  1554. 
They  were  using  in  their  worship  the  Prayer-Book 
of  King  Edward  \1,  but  did  not  adhere  strictly 
to  all  its  requirements.  They  used  no  surplice, 
dispensed  with  the  litany,  and  allowed  the  people 
to  make  no  responses  after  the  minister.  For 
this  they  were  taken  to  task  by  their  English  breth- 

'G.  <t  H..P.  ssr.ff. 


10  JOHN  ROBINSON 

ren  settled  in  Swiss  cities,  and  they  defended  their 
practice  by  clainiing  that  ^  these  omissions  and 
changes  were  exactly  in  hne  with  those  which  liad 
been  intended  by  the  leaders  of  the  reform  move- 
ments in  England  during  the  reign  of  King  Ed- 
ward VI,  but  had  been  cut  short  by  the  changes 
which  came  with  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary. 
The  movement  perpetuated  by  these  English  exiles 
in  continental  cities,  therefore,  represented  the  nat- 
ural development  of  the  Anglican  reformation 
toward  a  simpler  form  of  worship  and  greater 
freedom  from  Roman  Catholic  doctrine. 

Queen  Mary  died  in  1558.  Princess  Elizabeth 
came  to  the  throne.  The  exiles  returned.  Again 
the  form  of  the  national  religion  underwent  a 
change.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  conservative  and 
the  key-note  of  her  policy  was  compromise.  She 
desired  to  be  the  head  of  a  national  church,  which 
should  be  neither  so  Protestant  as  to  repel  her 
Roman  Catholic  subjects,  nor  so  Roman  Catholic 
that  her  Protestant  subjects  would  separate  from 
it.  Therefore,  according  to  her  instructions,  the 
severe  language  against  the  pope  was  stricken  out 
of  the  litany,  and  certain  vestments  which  had 

^  The  correspondence  and  an  account  of  the  entire  trouble  is  contained 
in  "A  Brieff  Discours  off  the  troubles  begoune  at  Franckford  in  Germany 
Anno  Domini  1554."  1575,  p.  xxi.  Copy  in  Congregational  Library, 
Boston.     Reprint,  London,  1846,  p.  xxi. 


THE  AXaiJCAX  REFORM ATIOX  11 

been  abandoned  during  the  reign  of  King  lildward 
were  restored.  ^ 

Queen  Elizabeth's  Su])reniacy  Act,  -  passed  in 
January,  1550,  repealed  the  Act  of  Repeal  of 
Queen  Mary,  and  revived  a  part  of  the  acts  of 
King  Henry  Mil  and  King  Edward  VI  relating 
to  the  religious  condition  of  the  realm.  Im- 
mediately after  the  above  came  the  sti'ingent  Act 
of  Uniformity,  which  restored  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  changed  slightly  from  the  form 
in  which  it  had  been  fixed  under  King  Edward 
VI .  The  terms  of  this  act  were  very  strict 
regarding  the  use  of  the  Book,  attendance  at 
church,  and  the  penalties  attending  any  trans- 
gression of  the  statute.  ^  The  Prayer-Book  was 
accepted  by  the  majority  of  the  queen's  bishops, 
not  because  the}'  all  thoroughly  approved  of  it  as 
it  then  was,  but  for  what  a  part  of  them  hoped  to 
make  of  it  by  future  changes. 

Queen  Eli'zabeth  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
type  of  Calvinism  which  had  been  brought  home 
by  the  exiles  from  the  cities  of  the  continent.  She 
was  ready  to  use  their  counsel,  but  she  did  not 
propose  that  these  Protestants  should  carry  out 
the  policy  which  they  had  endeavored  to  realize 

'  Elizabeth  retained  the  crucifix  in  her  chapel  and  the  use  of  the  cope 
was  continued.  This  scandalized  especially  the  returned  exiles.  See 
Wakeman.  pp.  329-3.33. 

-  G.  &  H..PP.  442-4.58.  '  These  are  .specified  in  G.  &  H.,  p.  459. 


12  JOHN  ROBINSON 

at  home  under  King  Edward  \I,  and  which  they 
had  perpetuated  and  intensified  during  their  en- 
forced residence  in  the  centers  of  Protestant  thought 
abroad.  Her  poUcy  mediated  between  these 
Protestants  on  the  one  hand  and  the  leaders  of  her 
Roman  CathoHc  subjects  on  the  other. 

This  poUcy  of  the  queen  found  its  ardent  sup- 
porters among  those  who  had  been  loyal  to  the 
general  cause  of  the  Reformation  in  England. 
They  formed  the  Anglican  party.  On  the  other 
hand  were  those  who  desired  to  press  forward  to 
still  greater  reforms  both  in  the  doctrine  and  in 
the  practice  of  the  church.  They  desired  to 
purify  public  worship  of  all  the  ceremonies  which, 
to  them,  stood  for  obnoxious  Romish  doctrines, 
of  which  they  were  supposed  to  be  rid  already. 
They  strove  for  the  elevation  in  moral  character 
of  the  clergy  and  members  of  the  national  Church. 
For  this  they  were  named  Puritans.  The  root 
of  this  Puritan  movement  was  ethical,  not  doc- 
trinal. Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth 
than  to  imagine  that  the  English  Puritans  or  their 
Separatist  successors  were  malcontents  and  incor- 
rigibles,  who  found  it  by  nature  impossible  to 
abide  in  the  same  spiritual  household  with  other 
men.  They  were  champions  of  righteousness  and 
men  of  intense  ethical  earnestness.     This  was  the 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORM  AT  UkS  13 

prime  motive  in  all  their  activity.  Puritanism 
was  practical,  not  doctrinal,  so  far  as  its  initial 
incentives  were  concerned.  It  found  a  buttress 
in  the  theology  of  Calvin,  but  it  sprang  from  the 
ethical  passion  for  a  purer  life.  ^ 

The  movement  which  is  thus  named  Puritanism 
has  always  been  at  work  in  the  Church.  It  man- 
ifested itself  in  the  Netherlands  before  it  did  in 
England.  Bishop  Hooper,  who  '^ scrupled"  the 
vestments  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward,  was  the 
father  of  Puritanism  in  England.  But  the  clear 
definition  of  the  movement  came  chiefly  from 
the  writings  of  Thomas  Cartwright,  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  from  which  position 
he  was  ejected  in  1571  for  so-called  erroneous 
teaching. 

Cartwright  was  a  follower  of  Calvin  both  in 
doctrine  and  in  polity.  His  teaching  stood  in 
positive  opposition  to  that  of  the  Anglican  party. 
He  held  that  the  State  and  the  Church  are  inde- 
pendent in  administration;  that  the  Scriptures 
teach  an  authoritative  system  of  polity,  of  which 
the  diocesan  episcopate  forms  no  part;  that  the 
members  of  the  Church  ought  to  have  a  share  in 
the  selection  of  their  officers.      The  membership 

'  See  "Puritanism  in  the  OM  WoiM  and  in  the  New."    by  J.  Gregory, 

1890.  p.  •:. 


14  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  the  Church,  he  taught,  is  composed  of  all  bap- 
tized persons  who  are  not  excommunicated,  and 
the  dut}^  of  the  ministry  is  to  train  this  body  of 
church  members  to  holiness  of  life.  He  believed 
that  the  magistrate  ought  to  suppress  heresy  and 
compel  uniformity  in  worship.  The  true  reformer, 
he  maintained,  must  remain  within  the  Church, 
work  there  for  its  purification,  and  never  separate 
from  its  communion.  Separation  he  held  to  be  a 
grievous  sin.  Cartwright  was  the  founder  of  the 
party  of  Presbyterian  Puritanism,  between  which 
and  the  Anglican  party  there  was  sharp  stress 
throughout  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Under  the  strain  of  this  contention  each  part}^ 
intensified  its  emphasis  upon  its  peculiar  doctrines. 
The  great  opponent  of  Cartwright,  Archbishop 
Whitgift,  sought  to  maintain  simply  that  episco- 
pacy is  the  more  ancient  and  desirable  form  of 
church  government.  In  1589,  Bancroft  main- 
tained that  episcopacy  is  of  divine  authority,  and 
in  1593  Bilson  asserted  that  episcopacy  and  apos- 
tolic succession  are  essential  to  the  very  existence 
of  the  Church.  Thus  the  breach  widened.  Even 
the  gradual  passing  away  of  the  common  foe, 
Roman  Catholicism,  seemed  to  intensify  the  strife 
between   Puritan   and  Anglican.  ^ 

^  See  Williston  Walker  "A  History  of  the  Congregational  Churches  in 
the  United  States,"  1894,  pp.  19-24. 


Tllf:  AXdLICAX  REFORMATION  15 

Puritanism,  as  outlined  by  Cartwright,,  had 
within  itself  certain  unfulfilled  conditions  which 
were  inevitably  bound  to  carry  some  of  its  fol- 
lowers to  the  extent  of  separation  from  the  national 
church  as  established  by  law.  It  was  a  policy  of 
ethical  and  ecclesiastical  reformation.  This  refor- 
mation, according  to  Cartwright,  was  bound  up 
with  the  civil  power,  and  it  was  necessary  to  wait 
for  the  initiative  of  the  civil  magistrates  in  under- 
taking practical  reform.  The  reformer  is  by 
nature  a  man  impulsive  in  purpose  and  impatient 
of  delay.  The  end  which  he  seeks  seems  to  him 
so  righteous  and  so  necessary  that  he  cannot  con- 
trol his  zeal  while  he  waits  for  the  slow  operation 
of  the  elaborate  machinery  of  civil  administration. 
The  time  was  bound  to  come  when  men  of  this 
stamp  would  face  the  question,  Has  the  Anglican 
Church  the  power  resident  within  it  to  reform  the 
abuses  which  are  involved  in  its  present  constitu- 
tion? If  the  answer  to  that  question  were  a  neg- 
ative, a  second  question  was  bound  also  to  arise: 
Is  it,  then,  the  duty  of  those  who  hold  fast  to  the 
holy  character  of  the  members  of  the  true  Church 
to  remain  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land? Cartwright 's  teaching  became  a  school  in 
which  men  were  trained  to  advance  beyond  their 
teacher.       He  opened  a  door  which    other   men 


16  JOHN  ROBINSON 

entered  who  believed  him  inconsistent  because  he 
did  not  go  to  the  full  length  of  separation. 

The  first  attempt  to  outline  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  a  separation  from  the  Anglican  Church  is 
found  in  the  writings  and  the  work  of  Robert 
Browne.  It  was  while  pastor  of  a  church  of  Puri- 
tan tendencies  in  Cambridge,  about  1580,  that  he 
seems  to  have  become  convinced  that  the  Puritan 
reformation  was  not  thorough  enough,  and  that 
a  more  radical  change,  without  Vv'aiting  longer  for 
help  either  from  the  impotent  and  unwilling  mag- 
istrates or  from  the  sad  minority  of  faithful  clergy, 
was  the  sole  means  of  purifying  the  Church  and  of 
avoiding  personal  sin.  He  maintained  not  only 
that  the  order  of  the  Anglican  Church  was  unscrip- 
tural,  but  also  that  the  bishops  in  sustaining  it 
were  guilty  of  sin.  This  sin  became,  by  partici- 
pation, the  personal  sin  of  every  person  who  re- 
mained in  the  false  church,  and  therefore  church 
relationship  was  a  determining  factor  in  holiness 
and  salvation.  To  remain  a  member  of  the  Church 
of  England  was  to  connive  at  sin  and  become  in- 
volved in  it.  Separation  was  necessary  in  order 
to   salvation.  ^ 

From  tvv'o  small  books  issued  by  Browne  we 

*  See  Dexter,' '  The  Congregationalism  of  the  Last  Three  Hundred  Years, 
as  Seen  in  its  Literature,"  New  York,  Harper,  1880,  pp.  61-12S,  for 
the  best  available  study  of  Browne's  work. 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORMATION  17 

gain  an  outline  of  his  teaching,  which  may  be  gath- 
ered up  under  three  heads: 

I.  A  Christian  church  is  a  comi^any  of  i)ersons 
possessing  Christian  character,  and  united  to  God 
and  to  one  another  in  the  bonds  of  a  covenant. 
To  every  sucli  church  belong  all  the  powers  nec- 
essary for  self-organization,  government  and  dis- 
cipline. Such  a  church  is  a  democracy,  under  the 
supreme  and  immediate  headship  of  Christ,  and 
each  member  is  responsible  to  Christ  for  the  welfare 
of  the  church  to  which  he  belongs. 

II.  But  each  church  is  also  bound  to  its  sister 
churches,  and  is  to  give  and  receive  aid  and  counsel 
whenever  these  are  needed. 

III.  The  Church  and  the  State  are  independent 
of  each  other,  and  therefore  civil  magistrates  have 
no  right  to  exercise  lordship  in  spiritual  affairs. 

These  doctrines  w^ere  so  radical  that  they  called 
out  a  proclamation  in  the  name  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth against  the  books,  the  possession  and  circu- 
lation of  which  was  so  serious  a  charge  that  two 
men  convicted  of  it  were  executed  in  15S3. 

It  remained  to  be  seen  whether  Browne  was  a 
man  of  .sufficient  strength  to  organize  an  institu- 
tion which  could  successfully  realize  his  ideal. 
Great  dangers  were  bound  up  with  propositions 
so   radical   as   those   which   Browne   announced. 


18  JOHN  ROBINSON 

The  true  test  of  his  capacity  as  a  leader  came  when 
he  endeavored  to  form  a  congregation  upon  the 
basis  of  those  principles.  He  made  the  attempt 
at  Middelberg.  Disaster  attended  it.  This  may 
not  have  been  due  entirely  to  the  inability  of 
Browne  himself  to  control  his  church.  In  a 
company  where  each  man  is  made  the  responsible 
censor  of  his  brother's  opinion  and  conduct  the 
peril  is  great.  Poor  human  nature  is  too  weak  to 
endure  such  a  strain  as  that  unless  there  is  a  mas- 
terful personality  in  control,  to  temper  men's  judg- 
ments and  set  a  high  example  of  kindness.  The 
principles  of  Separation  called  for  wise  leadership. 
Browne's  congregation  went  to  wreck  and  he  him- 
self, a  man  of  no  small  ability,  and  a  preacher  of 
far  more  than  ordinary  power,  was  incompetent 
to  control  his  congregations,  even  if  they  had  been 
organized  on  a  model  which  had  less  possibility 
and  peril  of  disruption  bound  up  within  it.  He 
finally  returned  into  the  communion  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  died,  an  old  man,  scorned  by  Puri- 
tans and  Anglicans  alike. 

The  teachings  of  Browne  were  widely  circulated. 
When,  in  1610,  Joseph  Hall  wrote  in  reply  to  John 
Robinson,  who  had  claimed  that  the  main  posi- 
tions of  the  Separatists  were  not  well  or  commonly 
known,  he  said, — 


THE  AXaiJCAX  REFORMATION  19 

''What  Cobler  or  Spinster  hath  not  heard  of 
the  maine  holds  of  Brownisme?"  ^ 

Thus  early  Browne's  name  was  given  in  derision 
to  those  who  advocated  a  Separation.  They  tried 
in  vain  to  shake  it  off,  but  it  continued  many  years 
as  a  term  of  reproach.  - 

The  second  stage  in  the  development  of  Sepa- 
ration may  also  be  designated  by  the  name  of  a 
man.  Barrowism  is  the  general  name  given  to  the 
teachings  of  Henry  Barrow  and  John  Greenwood. 
After  the  year  1586  both  of  these  men  came  into 
prominence  on  account  of  their  arrest  and  repeated 
examination  for  ecclesiastical  misdemeanors.  Dur- 
ing their  subsequent  imprisonment  in  the  Gate- 
house and  Clink  prisons  they  managed  to  prepare 
and  smuggle  out  enough  manuscript  to  fill  over 
nine  hundred  pages  of  exegetical  and  controver- 
sial literature.  In  these  books  a  new  statement 
of  the  Separatist  principle  appears. 

Barrow  and  his  friends  agreed  fully  with  Browne 
in  his  attack  upon  the  Anglican  Church  in  respect 
to  the  character  of  its  members,  its  polity  and 
its  worship.     The  duty  of  Separation  was  made 

'  Joseph  Hall,  "A  Common  Apologie  of  the  Church  of  England,"  1610, 
p.  5. 

-  See  the  popular  conception  mirrored  in  the  writings  of  Shakespeare 
"I  had  as  lief  be  a  Bruwnist  as  a  politician.  " 

— Twelfth  Night,  iii,  2,  34. 


20  JOHN  ROBINSON 

equally  imperative.  The  difference  between 
Browne  and  Barrow  lay  in  the  positive  side  of 
their  teaching  concerning  the  nature  of  the  true 
church.  ^  The  general  tendency  in  the  teaching 
of  Robert  Browne  was  democratic.  The  theories 
of  Barrow  must  be  judged,  not  only  according 
to  the  language  in  which  he  writes,  but  also  by 
the  practical  character  of  the  congregation  in  Am- 
sterdam w^hich  was  built  upon  these  teachings. 
And,  while  it  is  not  a  true  judgment  which  pro- 
nounces Henry  Barrow  aristocratic  rather  than 
democratic,  without  qualification  of  those  terms, 
it  is  right  to  say  that  the  church  order  which  his 
teaching  inspired  laid  hold  of  that  strong  aristo- 
cratic tendency  which  appears  in  his  teaching,  and 
carried  it  to  its  logical  conclusion  in  a  church 
whose  government  was  centered  in  the  hands  of  the 
church  officers.  Barrow  taught  that  the  members 
of  the  church  ought  to  be  a  "  humble,  meek,  obedi- 
ent and  loving  people'^  toward  their  true  govern- 
ors, the  officers  of  the  church.  Th'e  body  of  the 
congregation,  having  within  itself  all  the  powers 
necessary  for  its  organization  and  control,  is  there- 

*  See  "Henry  Barrow,  Separatist,  and  the  Exiled  Church  of  Amster- 
dam," by  Fred.  J.  Powicke,  Ph.D.,  London,  James  Clarke  &  Co.,  1900, 
for  an  extensive  monograph  in  which  Barrow's  work  is  examined  very 
thoroughly,  and  the  common  judgment  as  to  his  aristocratic  view  of  the 
church  is  rejected. 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORMATION  21 

fore  brought  into  contrast  with  the  body  of  the 
elders,  who  hold  their  office  indeed  as  a  trust  from 
the  congregation,  but  are,  nevertheless,  in  a  real 
sense  the  church. 

On  the  practical  side  Barrowism  presented  the 
same  difficulties  that  were  such  a  menace  in  the 
teachings  of  Browne.  The  element  of  religious 
espionage  in  the  system  was  the  prophecy  of  its 
ultimate  failure  unless  there  should  be  the  counter- 
acting force  of  sane  personal  leadership  in  the 
church  built  upon  these  principles.  A  church  was 
gathered  in  London,  organized  with  Francis  John- 
son as  its  pastor  in  1592,  and  had  a  stormy  history, 
both  in  England  and  in  Holland.  In  London  they 
were  the  objects  of  intense  persecution  from  which 
they  finally  fled  to  Amsterdam.  For  clearness  in 
description  this  congregation  is  generally  described 
as  the  ''Ancient  London  Church."  The  story  of 
their  trials  in  Holland  is  pathetic.  We  shall  meet 
them  later  there.  ^ 

Thus  we  have  outlined  the  growth  of  the  radi- 
cal wing  of  the  Puritan  movement  into  the  Separa- 
tion, on  the  constructive  side  of  which  we  find  a 
fundamental  difference  in  church  theory  between 
democracy  and  aristocracy.  We  shall  take  up  this 
movement  later  when  we  turn  to  the  history  of  a 

'  See  Dexter,  "Congregationaliirm  as  Seen,"  etc.,  Lecture  V. 


22  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Separatist  congregation  which  was  gathered  near 
Scrooby  early  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Throughout  the  reign  of  Queen  Ehzabeth  the 
strife  betweeen  AngUcan  and  Puritan  went  on. 
The  hopes  of  the  latter  had  been  set  upon  the  suc- 
cessor to  the  queen,  James  of  Scotland,  who  came 
to  the  throne  in  1603.  On  his  way  from  Scotland 
to  London  he  was  met  by  a  petition,  called,  from 
the  supposed  number  of  signatures  which  it  bore, 
the  Millenary  Petition.  ^  The  signers  of  this  peti- 
tion were  ''the  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  this 
land,  neither  as  factious  men  affecting  a  popular 
parity  in  the  Church,  nor  as  schismatics  aiming  at 
the  dissolution  of  the  State  eccleciastical,  but  as 
the  faithful  servants  of  Christ  and  loyal  subjects 
to  your  majesty,  desiring  and  longing  for  the 
redress  of    divers  abuses  of  the  Church." 

The  petition,  therefore,  did  not  come  from  Brown- 
ists  with  a  dangerous  tendency  toward  democracy 
in  their  doctrine,  nor  from  Separatists  w^ith  the 
direful  trend  toward  Separation  in  their  practice. 
It  represented  the  conforming  Puritans.  The  scope 
of  their  ''humble  suit"  was  that  these  offensive 
things,  among  others  named,  might  be  removed 
or  changed:  the  cross  in  baptism;  confirmation; 
use    of   the   cap  and  surplice;  " longsomeness   of 

iCopyinG.  &H.,pp.  50Sff. 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORM  AT  ION  23 

service";  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Day;  the 
use  of  the  rhig  in  marriage;  bowing  at  the  name 
of  Jesus.  They  also  begged  that  no  popish  doc- 
trine be  taught;  that  only  men  able  to  preach  be 
made  ministers:  that  non-residency  of  ministers 
be  no  longer  permitted.  They  urged  reforms  in 
the  matter  of  administering  the  pastoral  office, 
particularly  regarding  plural  benefices  and  fees. 
And  they  pleaded  for  a  juster  exercise  of  the  func- 
tions of  church  discipline. 

The  petitioners  declared  themselves  ready  to 
show  that  the  abuses  m.entioned  were  contrary 
to  the  Scriptures,  either  in  writing,  or  at  a  confer- 
ence to  be  called  by  the  king. 

The  king  called  the  Hampton  Court  Conference 
at  once  to  meet  in  January,  1604,  for  the  purpose 
of  consulting  in  regard  to  religious  changes  in  the 
nation.  The  result  of  its  deliberations  was  to 
convince  the  Puritan  party  that  absolutely  noth- 
ing favorable  to  its  policy  v/as  to  be  expected  at 
the  hands  of  the  new  king.  His  temper  became 
violent  under  the  pressure  of  the  Puritan  conten- 
tion. The  Hampton  Court  Conference  was  deci- 
sive for  the  hopes  of  all  those  ministers  who  might 
be  still  of  the  belief  that  the  true  method  of  reform 
was  to  remain  loyal  members  of  the  Church  of 
England.     The  tendency  of  such  a  decision  would 


24  JOHN  ROBINSON 

be  either  to  crush  such  ministers  back  into  con- 
formity, or  to  drive  them  farther  forward  into  open 
Separation. 

Another  act  in  the  definition  of  church  order 
and  the  royal  poHcy  was  the  results  reached  by  the 
Convocations  of  1603-4.  These  assemblies,  con- 
vened by  royal  warrant,  in  both  Canterbury  and 
York  provinces,  enacted  the  canons  of  1604,  in 
which  we  have  a  clear  outline  of  the  order  of  a 
state  church  prescribed  for  the  whole  realm  and 
sanctioned  by  the  king. 

Thus  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  King  James 
was  a  year  of  definition.  Anglican,  Puritan  and 
Separatist  alike  knew  what  to  expect.  The  more 
zealous  and  earnest  Puritans  could  not  feed  their 
hearts  on  false  hopes  any  longer.  Separation  was 
bound  to  come  easier  under  such  conditions. 

Let  us  at  this  point,  therefore,  take  a  brief  survey 
of  the  church  organization  which  had  been  sanc- 
tioned by  Church  and  king  in  the  Convocation  of 
1603-4,  in  order  that  we  may  clearly  see  the  eccle- 
siastical system  from  which  the  Separation  was 
made.  Only  a  very  brief  and  general  outline  can 
be  presented  here,  but  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples in  the  Anglican  polit}^  are  clearly  displayed 
in  these  enactments.  The  title  of  the  book  is, 
'' Constitutions  and  Canons  Ecclesiasticall,  Treated 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORMATION  25 

upon  by  the  Bishop  of  London,''  etc.,  \('M. 
The  canons  number  in  all  one  hundred  and 
forty-one,  of  which  twelve  are  devoted  to  the 
Church  of  England,  eighteen  to  the  service  and 
sacraments,  forty-six  to  ministers,  and  thirty-six 
to  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  The  remainder  are 
devoted  to  miscellaneous  matters. 

We  will  now^  attempt  from  these  sources  to  con- 
struct the  general  system  of  the  established  church 
order  from  w^hich  the  Separatists  went  out. 

The  center  of  the  entire  system  is  the  royal 
supremacy  in  all  matters  ecclesiastical  as  well 
as  civil.  At  least  four  times  each  year  all  preach- 
ers, ministers  and  lecturers  are  to  teach  plainly 
that  all  authority  in  religious  and  civil  matters 
claimed  by  any  other  person  than  the  king  is  abol- 
ished, and  that  the  sovereign's  powder  in  the  realm 
is  the  highest  under  God's.  The  royal  authority 
is  supreme  in  every  department  of  the  kingdom. 

The  Church  of  England  as  established  by  law  in 
the  realm  by  these  canons  is  a  true  Church.  The 
test  of  the  true  character  of  the  Church  is  made 
by  applying  to  it  the  question,  Does  it  maintain 
and  teach  the  doctrines  of  the  apostles?  The 
Church  of  England  does  this,  and  is  therefore  a 
true  Church.  Any  one  who  denies  this  fact  is  con- 
demned to  excommunication  and  can  be  restored 


26  JOHN  ROBINSON 

only  by  the  archbishop,  after  repentance  and  the 
pubhc  revocation  of  his  error  by  the  guilty  party. 

Since  the  Church  of  England  is  the  true  Church, 
separation  from  it  is  defined  as  follows : — 

'^  Whosoever  shall  hereafter  separate  them- 
selves from  the  communion  of  saints,  as  it  is  ap- 
proved by  the  Apostles'  rules  in  the  Church  of 
England,  and  combine  themselves  together  in  a 
new  brotherhood,  accounting  the  Christians  who 
are  conformable  to  the  doctrine,  government, 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England, 
to  be  profane  and  unmeet  for  them  to  join  v/ithin 
Christian  profession,  let  them  be  excommunicated/' 

Ministers  who  refuse  ''subscription"  are  denied 
the  right  to  take  the  name  of  any  church  not  estab- 
lished by  law,  and  whoever  asserts  that  such  min- 
isters have  this  right,  or  claim  that  the  Church  of 
England  is  oppressing  any  such  forbidden  church, 
is  liable  to  excommunication. 

For  doctrine,  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles,  agreed 
upon  in  1552,  form  the  authoritative  creed  of  the 
Church.  Excommunication  is  the  penalty  pre- 
scribed for  any  one  who  should  affirm  that  these 
Articles  are  in  any  particular  superstitious  or  erro- 
neous. 

The  government  of  the  Church  in  general  is 
administered,  under  the  king,  by  archbishops, 
bishops,  etc.     To  affirm  that  this  system  is  in  any 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORMATION  27 

way  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God,  or  to  deny  the 
vaUdity  of  the  forms  used  in  the  consecration  of 
bishops,  priests  and  deacons,  renders  the  person 
making  the  affirmation  or  denial  liable  to  excom- 
munication. 

The  Church  of  England  is  divided  into  two 
provinces,  at  the  head  of  each  of  which  is  an  arch- 
bishop. The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  is  the 
Primate  of  all  England.  Next  to  him  is  the 
Archbishop  of  York. 

The  second  division  is  the  diocese,  at  the  head 
of  which  is  the  bishop,  who,  in  the  controversies 
of  the  times,  is  often  called  the  '^ordinary."  The 
cathedral  church  of  the  diocese  is  the  one  containing 
the  bishop 's  throne.  The  duties  of  the  bishops  and 
other  church  officers  are  outlined  clearly.  One 
of  the  special  abuses  recognized  by  the  Convoca- 
tions is  the  failure  of  ministers  to  reside  in  their 
parishes.  This  is  taken  up  and  the  practice  for- 
bidden. 

The  unit  of  organization  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land is  the  parish,  of  which  all  baptized  persons 
who  are  not  suspended  or  excomnmnicated  are 
members  by  virtue  of  their  baptism.  At  the  head 
of  the  parish  is  the  minister  or  priest,  assisted,  if 
necessary,  by  one  or  more  curates,  who  have  been 
ordained   either   deacons    or   priests.     Upon    the 


28  JOHN  ROBINSON 

office  and  work  of  the  ministry  the  burden  of 
emphasis  in  the  canons  is  laid.  This  forms  so 
large  a  theme  in  the  arguments  and  attacks  of  the 
Separatists^  that  we  must  look  at  the  matter 
somewhat  in  detail. 

No  person  is  permitted  to  become  a  candidate 
for  sacred  orders  unless  he  shall  be  at  least  twenty- 
three  years  old  for  a  deacon,  and  twenty-four  for 
a  priest.  He  must  also  be  able  to  show  the  bishop 
at  the  time  of  his  ordination  that  he  has  a  position 
in  the  Church  ready  for  him,  or  that  he  is  in  some 
way  provided  for.  The  exception  to  this  rule  is 
Masters  of  Arts  of  five  years'  standing,  living  at 
their  own  expense,  or  men  whom  the  bishops 
are  sure  that  they  can  soon  appoint  to  livings. 
Furthermore,  the  candidate  must  be  a  resident 
of  the  diocese  of  the  bishop  who  is  to  ordain  him, 
or  else  must  bring  letters  from  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese  to  which  he  belongs.  Either  he  must  have 
taken  a  degree  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  or  else 
he  must  be  able  to  give  an  account  of  his  faith  in 
Latin  and  to  defend  it  from  the  Scriptures.  The 
moral  character  of  the  candidate  must  be  vouched 
for  under  the  seal  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  or  by 
three  or  four  ministers  and  other  persons  who 
have  knowm  him  for  a  space  of  at  least  three  years. 
Before  he  can  be  ordained,  he  must  be  rigidly 


THE  AX(;LICAX  reform ATIOX  29 

examined  in  tlu'  presence  of  the  bishop  and  the 
assisting  ministers,  who  must  be  from  the  candi- 
date's cathedral  church,  if  possible,  and  if  not, 
from  among  the  preachers  of  the  same  diocese. 

Certainly  it  would  seem  as  if  the  safeguards 
thrown  around  the  matter  of  sacred  orders  were 
sufficient,  according  to  these  canons,  to  secure  for 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  men  of  ability  and 
character.  The  only  loophole  through  which 
either  ignorant  or  bad  men  could  slip  in  would  be 
the  failure  of  the  bishops  to  hold  rigidly  to  the 
strenuous  recjuirements  of  the  canons.  Doubtless 
this  was  sometimes  the  case,  for  the  canons  pre- 
scribe penalties  for  those  bishops  who  ordain  men 
for  whom  there  seems  to  be  no  prospect  of  prefer- 
ment, or  who  fail  to  make  the  necessary  exami- 
nations. 

It  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  recall  these  canons 
when  we  come  to  consider  the  attack  of  the  Sepa- 
ratists upon  the  ministry  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

The  canons  also  carefully  safeguard  the  matter 
of  preferment  and  the  episcopal  sanction  of  min- 
isters. No  minister  is  allowed  to  pass  from  one 
diocese  to  another  and  be  instituted  over  a  church 
in  the  latter,  unless  he  can  show  the  bishop  of  the 
new  diocese  his  orders,  and  give  evidence  of  a  good 
life  and  pass  an  examination  if  required.     No  man 


30  JOHN  ROBINSON 

is  to  serve  as  a  curate  or  minister  without  exam- 
ination and  approval  by  the  bishop  or  his  deputy. 
Nor  is  one  man  permitted  to  serve  more  than  one 
church  or  chapel  in  one  day,  unless  the  chapel  is 
united  to  the  parish  church  or  the  bishops  have 
decided  that  the  second  church  or  chapel  is  unable 
to  sustain  a  curate. 

The  work  of  the  ministry  covers  the  general 
spiritual  interests  of  the  parish.  But  the  canons 
devote  special  attention  to  the  matter  of  preach- 
ing. This  is  without  doubt  inspired  by  the  Puritan 
attack  on  this  point.  A  difference  is  recognized 
between  ministers  who  are  able  to  preach  and 
those  who  are  not,  and  special  provision  is  made 
for  the  parishes  of  the  latter.  Every  beneficed 
preacher  is  required,  either  in  his  own  or  a  neigh- 
boring parish,  to  preach  one  sermon  every  Sunday, 
and  in  this  sermon  he  is  required  to  ^'soberly  and 
sincerely  divide  the  Word  of  truth  t  o  the  glory  of 
God  and  to  the  best  edification  of  the  people." 
If  a  man  in  a  benefice  is  not  able  to  preach,  how- 
ever, he  is  required  to  provide  that  sermons  shall 
be  preached  in  his  parish  at  least  once  a  month 
by  preachers  lawfully  commissioned  to  perform 
this  service.  But  it  is  left  to  the  judgment  of  the 
bishop  to  decide  whether  or  not  the  living  of  such 
a  minister  will  bear  the  cost  of  such  a  supply  of  a 


THE  ANGLIC  AX  REFORMATION  31 

preacher  as  is  specified  above.  Here  again  we 
note  the  way  in  which  the  achninistration  of  the 
canons  rests  with  the  bishops,  and  must  not  infer 
too  quickly  that,  because  the  canons  make  these 
provisions  for  preaching,  the  prescriptions  were 
faithfully  carried  out  by  the  bishops.  It  is  further 
enjoined  that  every  Sunday  when  there  is  no  ser- 
mon preached,  the  minister  or  the  curate  shall  read 
some  one  of  the  prescribed  homilies.  A  minister 
who  cannot  preach  is  also  forbidden  to  attempt 
to  expound  the  Scriptures.  No  preacher  is 
allowed  to  preach  without  showing  his  license,  and 
the  test  of  his  doctrinal  soundness  is  the  Scriptures, 
the  Articles  of  Religion  and  the  Prayer-Book. 
Every  sermon  is  to  be  recorded  in  a  book  at  the 
church  where  it  is  preached,  and  the  names  of  the 
preacher  and  licensing  bishop  are  required  for  the 
record.  No  preacher  is  allowed  to  oppose  any  doc- 
trine delivered  by  any  other  preacher  in  the  same 
or  a  neighboring  church  without  the  consent  of 
the  bishop.  Failure  to  conform  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  Prayer-Book  is  to  be  punished  by 
forfeiture  of  the  license  to  preach. 

Every  preacher  with  a  benefice,  even  if  he  have 
a  curate,  is  required  to  read  service  and  admin- 
ister the  sacraments,  at  least  twice  yearly  in  his 
parish  church.     It  is  strictly  forbidden  to  preach 


32  JOHN  ROBINSON 

or  to  administer  the  sacraments  in  private  houses, 
except  in  cases  of  the  feebleness  or  the  dangerous 
illness  of  the  inmates.  By  a  private  house  is 
meant  a  house  in  which  there  is  no  legally  dedicated 
chapel.  In  case  a  chapel  is  connected  with  a  house 
the  chaplain  is  forbidden  to  administer  the  sacra- 
ments except  in  the  chapel,  and  then  only  seldom, 
in  order  that  the  owners  of  the  house  may  par- 
take of  the  communion  more  often  in  the  church. 

Inasmuch  as  some  persons  had  refused  to  have 
their  children  christened,  or  to  take  the  communion 
when  the  minister  was  not  a  preacher,  a  canon 
charges  such  persons  to  cease  this  refusal  upon 
pain  of  excommunication,  ^^  as  though  the  virtue 
of  those  sacraments  did  depend  upon  this  [the  min- 
ister's] ability  to  preach.'' 

The  other  duties  prescribed  for  the  ministry 
are  those  w^hich  naturally  belong  to  the  office,  such 
as  christening,  w^hich  must  be  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  Prayer-Book ;  burial  of  the  dead,  which 
is  to  be  denied  only  to  those  excommunicated  or 
guilty  of  notorious  crimes  for  which  they  did  not 
repent;  catechizing;  preparation  of  children  for 
confirmation  by  the  bishop;  the  marriage  of  per- 
sons duly  authorized;  and  visitation  of  the  sick. 

A  significant  canon,  in  view  of  the  attack  made 
by  the  Separatists  upon  the  moral  character  of 


THE  ANGLICAN  REFORMATION  33 

many  of  the  Anglican  ministers,  has  to  do  with 
the  reguhition  of  the  conckict  of  the  clergy.  The 
very  vices  wliich  we  find  charged  against  them  by 
John  Robinson  are  here  expUcitly  prohibited. 
They  are  forbidden  to  resort  to  taverns  or  ale 
houses,  to  drink  or  riot,  to  play  at  cards  or  dice. 
They  are  commanded  to  live  in  honest  study,  to 
exercise  and  not  forsake  their  calling. 

The  final  test  to  w^hich  every  minister  must  sub- 
mit is  subscription  to  certain  articles  of  belief  and 
practice.  Any  minister  coming  into  a  diocese 
must  subscribe  to  these  in  the  presence  of  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  before  he  may  be  permitted 
to  perform  any  of  the  duties  of  his  office.  The 
thirty-sixth  canon  sums  up  so  completely  the  rela- 
tion which  the  minister  must  bear  to  the  church 
in  this  matter  of  subscription,  that  we  give  it  as 
it  stands: — 

"  No  person  shall  hereafter  be  received  into  the 
Ministry,  nor  either  by  Institution  or  Collation 
admitted  to  any  ecclesiastical  living,  nor  suffered 
to  preach,  to  catechize,  or  to  be  a  Lecturer,  or 
Reader  of  Divinity  in  either  Universities,  or  in  any 
cathedral  or  collegiate  Church,  City,  or  Market 
town.  Parish  Church,  Cha})el,  or  in  any  other 
place  within  this  Realm,  except  he  be  licensed 
either  by  the  Archbishop,  or  by  the  Bishop  of  the 
diocese   (where  he  is  to  be  placed)   under  their 


34  JOHN  ROBINSON 

hands  and  seals,  or  by  one  of  the  two  Universities 
under  their  seal  likewise,  and  except  he  shall  first 
subscribe  to  these  three  Articles  following,  in  such 
manner  and  sort  as  we  have  here  appointed: — 

^'I.  That  the  King's  Majesty,  under  God,  is 
the  only  supreme  Governor  of  this  Realm,  and 
of  all  other  his  Highness'  Dominions  and  Coun- 
tries, as  well  in  all  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  things 
or  causes,  as  temporal.  And  that  no  foreign 
Prince,  Person,  Prelate,  State,  or  Potentate  have 
or  ought  to  have  any  Jurisdiction,  Power,  Superi- 
ority, Preeminence,  or  Authority  ecclesiastical  or 
spiritual  within  his  Majesty's  said  Realms,  Do- 
minions and  Countries. 

'^11.  That  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and 
of  ordering  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  con- 
taineth  in  it  nothing  contrary  to  the  Yv^ord  of  God, 
and  that  it  may  lavv'fully  be  used,  and  that  he  him- 
self will  use  the  form  in  the  said  book  prescribed 
in  public  prayer  and  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments ancl  none  other. 

''  III.  That  he  alloweth  the  books  of  Articles 
of  Religion  agreed  upon  by  the  Archbishops  and 
Bishops  of  both  provinces  and  the  whole  clergy 
in  the  Convocation  holden  at  London  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  God  one  thousand  five  hundred  fifty 
and  two ;  and  that  he  acknowledgeth  all  and  every 
the  articles  therein  contained,  being  in  number 
nine  and  thirty,  besides  the  ratification,  to  be 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God. 

'^To  these  three  articles,  whoever  will  sub- 
scribe, he  shall,  for  the  avoiding  of  all  ambigui- 


THE  AXajJCAN  REFORM ATION  35 

ties,  subscribe  in  this  order  an<l  form  of  words, 
setting  down  both  his  Christian  and  surname, 
viz.: 

"  /  A'.  S.  do  willingly  and  ex  animo  subscribe  to 
these  three  articles  above  mentioned  and  to  all  things 
that  are  contained  in  themy 

This  is  the  test  of  subscription,  about  which 
contemporary  writing  is  so  full,  and  which  proved 
such  a  heavy  burden  to  the  Separatists.  Every 
bishop  is  strictly  enjoined  to  see  that  rigid  sub- 
scription is  required  from  every  minister  of  the 
diocese,  under  severe  penalty  in  case  of  any  omis- 
sion. The  test  is  to  be  constantly  in  force.  If  any 
minister,  after  having  subscribed  to  these  three 
articles,  should  fail  to  use  all  the  forms  of  worship 
as  prescribed  in  the  Prayer-Book,  he  is  to  be  sus- 
pended from  his  office  and  given  a  month  in  which 
to  reform  his  ways.  If  at  the  end  of  that  time 
he  does  not  submit  to  the  requirements  of  the 
Prayer-Book,  he  is  to  be  excommunicated  and 
given  one  month  more  for  reformation.  If  at  the 
end  of  this  second  month  of  probation  he  remains 
obdurate,  he  is  to  be  deposed  from  the  ministry. 

The  canons  proceed  to  take  up  the  matter  of 
plurality  of  benefice,  and  seek  to  guard  the  church 
from  the  danger  which  is  involved  in  this  plainly 
recognized  abuse.  But  the  canons  only  prescribe 
that  ministers  who  are  allowed  to  hold  more  than 


36  JOHN  ROBINSON 

one  living  shall  be  men  of  excellent  training  and 
ability  as  preachers;  that  the  livings  shall  not  be 
more  than  thirty  miles  apart ;  and  that  the  minis- 
ters shall  reside  in  each  place  a  reasonable  amount 
of  time  each  year. 

The  worship  of  the  Church  is  covered  by  the 
canons.  There  are  two  sacraments,  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.  One  of  the  points  which  Avas 
hotly  debated  when  these  canons  were  adopted  was 
the  use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism.  The 
use  of  the  sign  is  defended  in  a  long  argument  of 
Uttle  force,  after  which  the  sign  is  asserted  to  be 
no  essential  part  of  the  ceremony,  which  might  be 
equally  perfect  if  the  sign  were  not  used.  It  is 
employed  as  an  accidental  part  of  the  sacrament 
of  baptism,  and  is  so  to  be  used  by  the  Church. 

The  Lord's  Supper  is  to  be  administered  at 
least  three  times  each  year,  one  of  these  occasions 
being  at  Easter.  And  every  layman  is  bound  to 
receive  it  thrice  every  year,  ' '  under  the  penalty 
and  danger  of  the  Law."  In  administering  the 
sacrament  the  minister  is  to  partake  first,  and 
the  communicants  are  to  receive  both  the  bread 
and  the  wine.  Among  those  to  be  excluded  from 
the  communion  are  persons  known  to  be  living 
in  notorious  sin,  persons  at  enmity  with  their 
neighbors,  and  officers  of  the  church  who  have 


Tilt:  A.\(,LJrA.\  REFORMATION  37 

not  presented  for  prosecution  to  their  bishops 
such  offenders  against  the  church  as  they  are 
bound  by  their  oath  to  search  out.  Also  those 
who  refuse  to  be  present  at  pubHc  prayers  accord- 
ing to  the  order  of  the  Church  of  England,  deprav- 
ers of  the  Prayer-Book,  and  persons  denying  the 
validity  of  the  ceremonies  enjoined  in  the  Prayer- 
Book  are  to  be  excluded. 

The  Prayer-Book  is  given  a  place  of  su]')reme 
importance  in  all  the  worship  of  the  Church.  To 
assert  that  the  forms  which  it  prescribes  are  super- 
stitious, unlawful  or  inconsistent  with  the  Scrip- 
tures, is  sufficient  ground  for  excommunication. 
The  ministers  are  held  strictly  to  all  its  require- 
ments, without  being  allowed  in  the  least  to  dimin- 
isli  the  force  of  its  injunctions  in  their  preaching, 
or  to  add  anything  either  to  its  form  or  matter. 
So  far  as  the  Prayer-Book  contains  rites  and  cere- 
monies, these  are  obligatory  upon  every  person. 
To  affirm  that  these  ceremonies  are  wicked  or 
superstitious,  or  to  claim  that  zealous  and  godly 
men  may  not  with  good  conscience  approve,  em- 
l)loy  and  subscribe  to  them  — this  is  sufficient  war- 
rant for  excommunication. 

The  proper  clothing  for  church  officers  is  de- 
scribed in  the  canons,  from  the  garb  of  the  arch- 
bishop to  the  dress  of  the  poor  curate.     The  sur- 


3S  JOHN  ROBINSON 

pi  ice  is  to  be  worn  by  every  minister  while  he 
conducts  service.  Tt  is  to  be  made  with  sleeves 
and  provided  at  the  expense  of  the  parish.  All 
questions  concerning  vestments  are  to  be  decided 
by  the  bishop  or  his  deputy.  Ministers  who  are 
university  graduates  are  commanded  to  wear 
hoods  according  to  their  degrees.  Ministers  who 
are  not  university  graduates  are  allowed  to  wear 
upon  the  surplice,  "  instead  of  hoods,  some  decent 
tippet  of  black,  so  it  be  not  silk." 

The  sacred  days  of  the  Church  are  many.  Be- 
sides Sunday,  all  the  holidays  announced  in  the 
Prayer-Book  must  be  observed.  The  litany  is  to 
be  said  or  sung,  not  only  on  these  days,  but  upon 
every  Wednesday  and  Friday,  Vvdiether  these  were 
holidays  or  not. 

This  gives  us,  from  the  official  Canons  of  the 
Church,  a  fairly  distinct  picture  of  the  organiza- 
tion to  which  conformity  was  required  from  every 
minister  by  the  law.  To  enforce  this  requirement 
there  was  developed  a  system  of  judicial  machinery 
w^hich  became  a  tyranny.  We  do  not  need  to 
survey  these  courts  before  which  those  who  refused 
subscription  suffered.  Enough  has  been  seen 
already  to  show  how  strong  the  tests  of  conformity 
were,  and  how  easy  it  might  be  to  become  an  eccle- 
siastical offender. 


II 

SEPARATIST  CONGREGATIONS 


CHAPTER  II 

SEPARATIST    CONGREGATIONS    IN    GAINSBOROUGH 
AND  SCROOBY 

It  is  not  possible  at  present  to  trace  with  cer- 
tainty any  line  of  causal  connection  between  the 
congregation  or  congregations  formed  about  London 
on  the  principles  of  the  Separation  and  the  organ- 
ization of  similar  companies  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land. They  were  both  due  to  the  earnest  preach- 
ing of  the  Puritan  ministers  and  their  insistence 
upon  a  holy  life.  This  brought  about  a  radical 
change  of  character  and  begot  a  zeal  for  reforma- 
tion in  their  converts.  When  the  possibility  of 
that  reformation  was  thus  sought  by  these  men, 
and  when  the  simple  model  of  church  organiza- 
tion in  the  New  Testament  w^as  studied,  it  appeared 
to  them  that  the  government  of  the  Church  by 
bishops  and  the  use  of  the  ceremonies  prescribed 
by  the  Pra3'er-Book  were  alike  inconsistent  with 
the  New  Testament  description  of  the  Church. 
They  were,  in  each  case,  men  who  were  seeking  a 
higher  expression  of  the  religious  life,  and  they 
came  to  the  common  conclusion  that  the  expres- 

41 


42  JOHN  ROBINSON 

sion  could  not  be  realized  through  the  church  as 
then  constituted  by  law  in  England. 

In  the  year  1849  Rev.  Joseph  Hunter  for  the 
first  time  identified  the  exact  region  in  which  were 
gathered  the  Separatist  congregations  from  which 
the  ''Pilgrim  Fathers"  of  America  came.  In 
1854  the  full  results  of  his  investigations  were 
published.-^  He  determined,  from  references  in 
the  writings  of  Bradford,  that  the  village  of 
Scrooby  was  the  chief  center  of  the  movement,  the 
area  of  which  is  now  quite  specifically  defined. 

The  general  character  of  the  district  in  which 
these  Separatist  congregations  were  organized 
would  not  seem  at  first  to  promise  much  in  the 
way  of  intellectual  development.  It  was  open 
country,  flat  and  uninteresting,  with  villages  dot- 
ting the  landscape  here  and  there,  and  only  a 
scattered  population.  It  was  isolated  from  the 
large  cities.  The  Great  North  Road  ran  through 
it;  but  this,  Arber  says,  v/as  ''a  mere  horse  track, 
and  not  fenced  in;  so  that  the  traveller  needed  a 
guide,  to  prevent  his  wandering  out  of  the  way."  ^ 
In  spite  of  all  that  one  would  naturally  suppose 

^  "Collections  concerning  the  Church  or  Congregation  of  Protestant 
Separatists  formed  at  Scrooby  in  North  Nottinghamshire,  in  the  time  of 
King  James  I:  the  Founders  of  New  Plymouth,"  by  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Hunter.     London,   1854. 

^  "Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  p.  51. 


ft 


GAINSBOROUGH  AND  SCROOBY  43 

to  have  been  true  concerning  the  ignorance  of  the 
peasantry,  the  narrowness  of  their  world,  and  their 
indifference  to  the  hfe  of  the  spirit,  there  had  been 
a  unique  rehgious  character  al)out  the  district. 
Previous  to  the  Reformation  there  had  been  many 
houses  of  the  different  rehgious  bodies  in  the  re- 
gion; nearly  every  monastic  order  was  represented. 
Many  of  the  leading  families  there  were  ardent 
Roman  Catholics  and  suffered  severe  hardships 
when  the  state  religion  was  changed.  Corre- 
sponding to  this  loyal  support  of  the  old  faith  by 
the  old  aristocracy  was  a  singular  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  Puritan  preachers,  to  which  the 
organizations  in  Gainsborough  and  Scrooby  were 
due.  ^  The  work  of  laymen  was  no  less  conspic- 
uous. Bradford  tells  how  William  Brewster's 
great  religious  service  to  the  country  in  which  he 
lived  consisted  both  in  his  personal  example  of  a 
godly  life  and  in  the  effort  v/hich  he  made  to  pro- 
cure good  preachers  in  all  the  villages  round  about. 
This  was  his  practice  before  ever  he  had  thought 
of  Separation.  He  was  not  the  only  earnest,  high- 
minded  man  in  the  region.  The  whole  section 
was  good  soil  for  the  harvest  of  religious  freedom. 
It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  pioneers  of  the  Eng- 
lish Baptists  are  Smyth  and  Helwisse  of  Gains- 

'  See  Hunter,  "Collectiona, "  pi).  24  ff. 


44  JOHN  ROBINSON 

borough;  that  the  Congregationalists  are  proud 
to  claim  as  the  founders  of  their  pohty  in  its 
modern  form  Robinson,  Brewster  and  Bradford, 
all  of  this  district;  that  later,  from  the  rectory  at 
Epworth,  in  this  very  region,  went  forth  John  and 
Charles  Wesley,  the  great  leaders  of  the  ^Methodist 
movement.  There  must  have  been  a  local  tem- 
per which  made  this  possible.  Arber's  attempt 
to  apply  the  ^' crass  ignorance  of  the  country 
peasantry  of  England"  to  this  district  is  unwar- 
ranted in  the  face  of  what  has  been  done  for  true 
religion  by  its  inhabitants. 

The  protest  of  earnest  preachers  and  zealous 
laymen  against  the  Anglican  Church  as  established 
by  law  involved  them  in  trouble.  After  a  time 
they  organized  into  churches.  The  first  of  these 
organizations  probably  took  place  in  the  city  of 
Gainsborough,  about  the  year  1602,  and  the  later 
leader  of  the  movement  and  pastor  of  the  church 
was  John  Smyth.  The  sole  authority  for  this 
early  date,  however,  is  Secretary  Morton  in  ''New 
England's  Memorial."  Bradford  does  not  give 
the  date,  and,  in  general,  the  author  of  the  History 
seems  to  have  had  little  regard  for  the  necessity 
of  definite  chronology.  He  is  not  so  much  in- 
accurate as  he  is  careless  or  inadequate.     Prince 


GAINSBOROUGH  AND  SCROOBY  45 

followed  Morton  in  regard  to  the  date,  and  Tlunter 
and  Dexter  both  seem  inclined  to  accept  it.  ^ 

So  far  as  it  rests  upon  the  official  connection  of 
John  Smyth  with  the  congregation,  the  date  1602 
is  probably  too  early.  Edward  Arber  seems  to 
have  established  the  fact  ^  that  John  Smyth  was 
a  conforming  minister  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  Lincoln  on  March  22,  1605.  It  was  not  until 
after  that  date  that  we  are  to  connect  him  with 
the  Separatist  congregation  at  Gainsborough. 
But  this  is  not  clear  proof  that  the  congregation 
itself  was  not  organized  before  that  date,  as  Arber 
stoutly  claims  it  could  not  have  been.  ^  That 
claim  cannot  be  established  until  we  are  sure  that 
the  organization  of  the  congregation  and  the  elec- 
tion of  its  officers  were  contemporary  We  shall 
discover  clear  proof  that  there  is  a  difference  in 
the  Separatist  theory  between  a  church  '"gath- 
ered," that  is,  united  in  covenant,  and  a  church 
organized  fully  by  the  election  of  its  officers.  The 
second  stage  was  not  necessary  in  order  that  a  con- 
gregation might  be  called  a  "' church."  There 
is  no  sufficient  reason  why  Morton's  date  should 
not  be  accepted  as  accurate  for  the  organization 
by  covenant  of  this  Separatist  company. 

'  So  Dunning,  "Congregationalists  in  America,  "  p.  72. 
-  "Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  "  pp  133,  134. 
•■•Ibid.  D..P.  48. 


46  •  JOHN  ROBINSON 

John  Smyth,  a  Cambridge  man,  became  identi- 
fied with  the  congregation  at  some  time  following 
the  year  1602,  and  we  generally  connect  his  name 
most  closely  with  its  fortmies  in  England  and 
Holland.  Smyth  decided  for  the  Separation  after 
a  period  of  nine  months  spent  in  study  and  doubt 
over  the  question.  His  congregation  was  called 
a  company  of  ^'tradesmen"  by  their  opponents. 
He  carried  his  ideas  of  the  Separation  to  the  farthest 
extreme,  and  maintained  that  it  was  necessary 
to  withdraw,  not  only  from  all  public  V\'orship  or 
com^munion  with  the  Anglican  Church,  but  even 
from  all  acts  of  religious  fellowship  w^ith  its  mem- 
bers, such  as  reading  the  Scriptures  or  joining  in 
private  prayer. 

Persecution  swiftly  followed  the  gathering  of  the 
Gainsborough  congregation  and  they  w^re  com- 
pelled to  flee  into  Holland,  which  was  the  refuge 
then  for  all  who  suffered  for  non-conformity  in 
England.  The  emigration  was  gradually  effected, 
and  they  reached  Amsterdam  in  October  or  No- 
vember, 1606. 

The  second  congregation  probably  never  for- 
m.aily  split  off  from  the  church  at  Gainsborough, 
although  at  the  beginning  the  two  seem  to  have 
been  part  of  one  movement.  Scrooby  is  a  little 
village  vvdiich  was,  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 


GAINSBOROUGH  AND  SCROOBY  47 

century,  one  of  the  i)Ost  stations  on  the  Great 
North  Road  from  London  to  Ikrwick.  After  the 
accession  of  King  James  I  this  road  became  more 
important,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  frequent 
communication  between  the  two  courts.  Conse- 
quently the  postmaster  became  a  man  of  consid- 
erable local  prominence  and  income.  The  office 
in  Scrooby  was  held  by  William  Brewster  from 
April  1,  1590,  to  September  30,  1607. 

Also  in  Scrooby  there  was  a  manor  house  be- 
longing to  the  Archbishop  of  York,  which  Arch- 
bishop Sandys  had  granted  to  his  son  Samuel, 
under  whom  William  Brewster,  postmaster,  held 
it.  We  have  observed  already  the  practical  char- 
acter of  the  religion  of  William  Brew^ster.  It  was 
natural  that,  when  such  a  man  became  a  Separatist, 
he  should  open  his  house  to  his  brethren  and  lend 
his  personal  influence  and  activity  to  their  cause. 
This  is  exactly  what  he  did.  A  new  center  was 
formed  in  the  old  manor  house  at  Scrooby.  Doubt- 
less many  w^ho  came  to  meet  and  worship  there 
had  formerly  gone  the  longer  distance  to  Gainsbor- 
ough. Brewster  entertained  them  when  they  came. 
at  no  slight  expense  to  himself,  and  continued  his 
practice  as  long  as  they  remained  in  England. 

The  members  of  the  congregation  came  from 
the  villages  of  Austerfield  and  Scrooby  antl  from 


48  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  adjacent  country  so  far  as  there  were  isolated 
houses.  At  the  beginning  they  gathered  on  Sun- 
day for  counsel,  fellowship  and,  probably,  for  some 
simple  form  of  worship,  walking  to  and  from  the 
manor  house  and  proving  the  hospitality  of  its 
owner.  This  fellowship,  however,  grew  naturally 
to  assume  a  form  of  organic  union.  The  picture 
which  we  have  of  the  formation  of  the  little  church 
comes  from  one  of  the  later  antagonists  ^  of  John 
Robinson,  who  says : — 

'^Is  this  so  strange  to  John  Robinson?  do  we 
not  know^  the  beginnings  of  his  Church?  that  there 
was  first  one  stood  up  and  made  a  covenant,  and 
then  another,  and  these  two  ioyned  together,  and 
so  a  third,  and  there  became  a  church,  say  they." 

The  simphcity  of  this  action  is  striking.  There 
was  no  bishop  and  no  council  of  churches.  There 
was  no  test  of  creed.  The  covenant  was  made 
between  man  and  man,  and  its  terms  were  very 
plain.  This  is  precisely  the  action  to  vrhich  Wil- 
liam Bradford  refers  when  he  says  ^  that  these 
Separatists  '^joyned  themselves  (by  a  covenant  of 
the  Lord)  into  a  church  estate,  in  ye  fellowship 
of  ye   gospell,  to  walke  in  all  his  wayes,   made 

^  "[John  Murton]  A  Description  of  what  God  hath  predestinated  con- 
cerning Man,"  etc.,  1620,  p.  169. 

2  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation, "  1898,  p.  13. 


GAlN!SBOROUGH  AND  SCROOBY  49 

known,  or  to  be  niadi^  known  unto  them,  according 
to  their  best  emk^avours,  whatever  it  shoukl  cost 
them,  the  Lord  assisting  them." 

This  simple  organization  (Ud  not  imply  a  lack 
of  personal  leadership.  The  very  opposite  was 
true.  From  the  beginning  strong  men  were  asso- 
ciated with  the  Scrooby  congregation. 

First  w^as  Richard  Clyfton.  To  his  preaching, 
perhaps,  the  very  inception  of  the  movement  goes 
back.  Bradford  says  that  he  was  ''a  grave  and 
reverend  preacher,  who  by  his  pains  and  diligence 
had  done  much  good,  and  under  God  had  been  the 
means  of  the  conversion  of  many."^  He  also 
tells  us  that  Clyfton  was  "sound  and  orthodox" 
to  his  end.  He  w^as  the  rector  of  Babworth,  be- 
tween six  and  seven  miles  south  of  Scrooby,  and 
nine  miles  from  Austerfield,  from  which  village 
William  Bradford  sometimes  w^alked  on  Sundays 
to  hear  him  preach.  It  may  be  a  personal  remi- 
niscence when  Bradford  says  of  him,  "  Much  good 
had  he  done  in  the  country  where  he  lived,  and 
converted  many  to  God  by  his  faithful  and  painful 
ministry,  both  in  preaching  and  catechizing."  It 
was  a  precious  fruit  of  his  ministry  indeed  if  the 
choice  spirit  of  William  Bradford  was  one  that  he 
led  into  the  Christian  life.     He  was  probably  dis- 

'  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation."  p.  U. 


50  JOHN  ROBINSON 

placed  by  the  enforcement  of  the  canons  of  1603-4, 
and  became  one  of  the  members  united  by  covenant 
with  his  fellow  Separatists  in  Scrooby  church. 

William  Bradford,  later  governor  of  Plymouth, 
and  author  of  the  priceless  history  ''Of  Plimoth 
Plantation,"  now  preserved  in  the  State  Library 
of  Massachusetts  at  Boston,  was  one  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  church,  and  did  not  assume  his 
position  of  prominence  until  after  the  emigration 
to  America.  He  was  born  in  the  village  of  Auster- 
field,  three  miles  from  Scrooby,  and  baptized  there 
March  19,  1589  [1590].  His  connection  with  the 
Scrooby  congregation  was  probably  brought  about 
through  his  association  with  Richard  Clyfton  while 
the  latter  was  preaching  in  Babworth,  before  he 
was  silenced  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

The  leader  of  the  movement  who  stands  out 
most  clearly  at  the  beginning,  on  account  of  his 
connection  with  the  manor  house  and  his  practical 
service  to  the  cause,  is  William  Brewster.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  individual  power  and  singular 
personal  worth.  He  was  a  printer  rather  than  a 
writer  when  the  time  for  the  defense  of  the  Sepa- 
ration came.  We  have  no  book  preserved  from 
his  pen,  and  so  there  is  no  source  from  which  to 
reach  an  estimate  of  his  strength  as  a  writer.  His 
great  service  to  the  Separation  did  not  lie  in  the 


GAINSBOROUGH  AND  SCROOBY  51 

written  defense  of  its  principles,  or  in  the  preser- 
vation of  its  history,  fie  was  the  central  figure 
in  the  early  history  of  the  Scrooby  congregation 
and  always  one  of  its  strongest  members  and  most 
judicious  leaders. 

Neither  Clyfton,  Bradford  nor  Brewster,  how- 
ever, is  the  person  who  assumed  the  final  leader- 
ship of  the  Scrooby  company.  Any  one  of  them 
might,  perhaps,  have  saved  the  little  church 
from  the  wreck  which  was  made  so  sadly  by  the 
congregations  of  Browne,  Johnson  (the  Ancient 
London  Church),  and  Smyth,  who  pushed  on  to 
Holland  ahead  of  the  Scrooby  brethren.  There 
was  another  man  who  would  prove  himself  great 
enough  to  master  the  Separation  and  embody  it 
for  the  first  time  in  a  successful  organization.  This 
was  John  Robinson,  the  subject  of  this  biography. 


Ill 

JOHN  ROBINSON 

UNTIL  HE  JOINS  THE 

SEPARATIST  CONGREGATION 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   LIFE  OF  JOHN   ROBINSON   UNTIL   HE   JOINS  THE 
SEPARATIST    CONGREGATION    AT    SCROOBY 

There  is  no  contemporary  biograpliy  of  John 
Robinson;  nor  has  the  attempt  been  made  to 
treat  with  any  degree  of  completeness  from  the 
original  sources  the  course  of  his  thought,  the  con- 
tribution he  made  to  his  age,  or  the  personaUty  of 
the  man  himself.  Governor  Bradford  has  given 
us  a  few  paragraphs  in  his  famous  "Dialogue" 
regarding  Robinson;  there  are  also  a  few  scat- 
tered contemporary  opinions  concerning  him.  But 
these  are  not  adequate  to  enable  us  fully  to  trace 
the  course  of  events  with  which  he  was  so  actively 
associated.  Nor  are  his  writings  strongly  autobi- 
ographical. He  never  boasts  of  what  he  has  done; 
he  keeps  far  out  of  sight  in  his  controversies. 

But,  while  we  are  thus  limited  on  the  objective 
side,  we  shall  find  that  Robinson  is  constantly 
revealing  himself  on  the  subjective  side.  He  dis- 
closes his  heart;  he  lays  bare  the  motive  f()rc(\s  of 
his  life.  It  is  a  character  singularly  simple  and 
consistent ;  it  is  the  soul  of  a  man  to  be  loved  wliirh 


56  JOHN  ROBINSON 

we  discover  in  these  old  controversial  pamphlets 
and  sometimes  dreary  discussions.  Our  chief 
sources  are  those  passages  in  his  preserved  books 
where  John  Robinson  writes  out  of  his  very  heart. 

The  year  of  his  birth  is  determined  from  an 
entry  in  the  records  of  the  University  of  Leyden. 
On  September  5,  1615,  by  permission  of  the  over- 
seers, he  was  admitted  to  the  university,  being 
then  thirty-nine  years  of  age  and  supporting  a 
family.  Therefore  he  was  born  in  1575  or  1576. 
He  died  in  Leyden  in  1625.  His  life  covered  a 
span  of  a  half  century,  the  last  quarter  of  the  six- 
teenth and  the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth. 
The  period  of  his  life  which  concerns  us  most 
closely  was  contemporaneous  with  the  reign  of 
King  James  I  of  England,  1603-1625. 

The  place  of  his  birth  va'c  are  not  able  as  yet  to 
determine  surely.  The  conjecture  is  that  he  was 
born  in  Gainsborough.  There  is  at  least  a  prob- 
ability that  this  is  true.  Dr.  Henry  M.  Dexter 
searched  the  parish  records,  which  are  in  very 
imperfect  condition,  and  was  not  able  to  discover 
any  record  of  his  baptism  there.  ^  This,  however, 
is  negative  evidence  only.     Hunter  ^  notes  the  fact 

^  See  "Congregationalism  as  Seen,  etc."  p.  359,  note  1. 

'^  See  "Collections,  etc.:  the  Founders  of  New  Plymouth,"  London. 
1854,  p.  93. 


UXTIL  HE  JOIXS  THE  SEI'Ah'ATISTS         57 

that  j)roinineiit  dissenters  during  the  reign  oi 
King  Charles  II  were  I^obinsons  of  Gainsborough. 
In  the  time  of  his  greatest  perplexity  he  turned 
toward  Gainsborough  as  one  might  be  drawn 
toward  the  home  of  his  youth. 

Certainly  w^e  may  be  right  in  imagining  the  boy- 
hood years  of  the  lad  spent  in  this  old  town,  a 
picture  of  which  George  Eliot  gives  in  ''The  Mill 
on  the  Floss."  Gainsborough  is  St.  Oggs,  and  the 
gray  antiquity  and  sweet  charm  of  the  place  are 
revealed  in  her  description: — 

"It  is  one  of  those  old,  old  towns,  which  impress 
one  as  a  continuation  and  outgrowth  of  nature, 
as  much  as  the  nests  of  the  bower-birds,  or  the 
winding  galleries  of  the  white  ants;  a  town  which 
carries  the  traces  of  its  long  growth  and  history 
like  a  millennial  tree,  and  has  sprung  up  and  devel- 
0|)ed  in  the  same  spot,  between  the  river  and  the 
low  hill,  from  the  time  when  the  Roman  legions 
turned  their  backs  on  it  from  the  camp  on  the 
hillside,  and  the  long-haired  sea  kings  came  up 
the  river  and  looked  with  fierce,  eager  eyes  at  the 
fatness  of  the  land.  It  is  a  'town  familiar  with 
forgotten  years.'  The  shadow  of  the  Saxon  hero 
king  still  walks  there  fitfully,  reviewing  the  scenes 
of  his  youth  and  love  time,  and  is  met  by  the 
gloomier  shadow  of  the  dreadful  heathen  Dane, 
who  was  stabbed  in  the  midst  of  his  warriors  by 
the  sword  of  an  invisible  avenger,  and  who  rises 
on  autumn  evenings  like  a  white  mist  from  the 


58  JOHN  ROBINSON 

tumulus  on  the  hill,  and  hovers  in  the  court  of  the 
Old  Hall  by  the  river  side  —  the  spot  where  he  was 
miraculously  slain  in  the  days  before  the  Old  Hall 
was  built.  It  was  the  Normans  who  began  to 
build  that  fine  old  hall,  which  is  like  the  town, 
telling  of  the  thoughts  and  hands  of  widely-sun- 
dered generations;  but  it  is  all  so  old  that  we  look 
with  loving  pardon  at  its  inconsistencies,  and  are 
well  content  that  they  who  built  the  stone  oriel 
and  they  who  built  the  Gothic  facade  and  towers 
of  finest  small  brickwork,  with  the  trefoil  ornament 
and  the  windows  and  battlements  defined  with 
stone,  did  not  sacrilegiously  pull  down  the  ancient, 
half-timbered  body,  with  its  oak-roofed  banqueting 
hall." 

Gainsborough,  then,  with  its  long  history  and 
its  busy  trade,  may  have  been  Robinson's  birth- 
place. If  it  was,  his  boyhood  was  spent  in  a  town 
where  there  were  not  only  active  interests  to  engage 
him,  but  all  the  charm  of  romance  and  venerable 
story  to  kindle  his  imagination. 

There  have  been  other  conjectures  as  to  his 
place  of  birth,  none  of  which  seems  so  probable  as 
this.  John  Browne  ^  thinks  it  quite  possible  that 
he  was  the  son  of  John  Robinson,  d.d.,  an  arch- 
deacon and  precentor  of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  and 
that  he  was  born  in  Lincoln.  There  is  hardly  ,so 
much  probability  in   this  as  there  is  in   the   con- 

1  "The  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England  and  their  Puritan  Successors," 
London,  1895,  p.  95. 


UNTIL   111-:  JolXS   Till-:  Si:PARAriSTS         .VJ 

jcclure  that  he  was  born  hi  Gahisborough.  Still 
less  probable  is  the  suggestion  of  Gordon  in  the 
''Dictionary  of  National  Biography"  that  Robin- 
son was  born  in  Saxlinghani. 

Concerning  his  childhood  we  really  know  noth- 
ing. There  is  a  reference  in  one  of  his  "Essays" 
to  the  harmful  indulgence  of  mothers  and  grand- 
parents toward  children.^  From  this  Dr.  Henry 
M.  Dexter^  thought  it  might  be  possible  to  infer 
that  he  lost  his  father  early  in  life.  But  there  is 
not  enough  evidence  to  warrant  this  conclusion. 

^^'e  are  equally  uninformed  concerning  his  family 
or  the  social  station  into  which  he  was  born.  But 
there  seem  to  have  been  considerable  periods  of 
time  after  he  had  become  involved  in  trouble  with 
the  church  authorities  when  he  existed  with  no 
visible  means  of  support.  Also  he  printed  many 
books  which  nmst  have  cost  him  large  sums  of 
money,  since  their  sale  was  forbidden  at  home. 
And  in  Leyden  he  was  concerned  in  the  purchase 
of  a  large  property,  the  so-called  John  Robinson 
house.  His  writings  never  hint  at  the  pinch  of 
poverty.  These  facts  would  seem  at  least  to  indi- 
cate that  he  was  not  from  a  poor  family.  This 
is,  to  be  sure,  negative  evidence.     It  is  not  with- 

'  Works.  1:  246. 

-  '■Congregationalism  as  Seen.  etc.  "  p.  300. 


60  JOHN  ROBINSON 

out  value,  however.  The  pinching  of  poverty 
generally  betrays  itself  somewhere  in  a  man's 
writings  or  it  is  discoverable  in  his  actions.  There 
is  nothing  of  the  sort  in  evidence  in  Robinson's 
case. 

The  first  records  which  we  have  in  England 
concerning  him  are  from  Corpus  Christ i  College, 
Cambridge,  from  which  w^e  learn  that  he  was  ad- 
mitted in  1592  and  was  fellow  in  1598.  There  is, 
curiously,  the  recofd  of  another  John  Robinson  on 
the  rolls  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  but  this 
is  clearly  concerned  with  another  person  than  the 
subject  of  this  biography.^ 

The  Corpus  Christ!  record  describes  Robinson 
as  from  the  county  of  Lincoln,  and  Masters  adds 
the  information  that  this  was  the  John  Robinson 
who  later  lived  in  Holland.  In  1831  a  new^  edition 
of  Masters'  History  of  Corpus  Christi  College 
(originally  published  in  1749)  was  issued,  in  which 

^  The  record  on  the  register  of  Emanuel  College  is  '  'John  Robinson,  en- 
tered as  sizar,  March  2d,  1592:  took  his  M.  A.  1600  and  B.  D.  1607." 
This  cannot  refer  to  our  Robinson,  who  could  not  have  taken  his  B.D. 
degree  from  Cambridge  so  late  as  1607,  for  he  had  decided  for  the  Separa- 
tion before  that  time.  This  entry  misled  Young  (see  "Chronicles,"  p. 
452)  into  supposing  that  this  Emanuel  graduate  was  the  later  Separatist. 
Also  James  Savage  in  "Gleanings  from  New  England  History"  (Mass. 
Hist.  Soc.  Coll.  Series  3,  Vol.  8,  po.  248-249)  makes  the  same  error.  Greg- 
ory in  "Puritanism,"  p.  211,  says  that  Robinson  was  a  fellow  of  Christ's 
College,  Cambridge;  on  p.  214  he  says  that  Robinson  "graduated  at  Cor- 
pus Christi  College,  Cambridge,  in  1592,  and  became  a  Fellow  probably 
in  1599." 


UNTIL  HE  JOISS   THE  SEPARATISTS         01 

the  editor,  Dr.  Lamb,  refers  to  this  record,  and 
says  that  Robinson  succeeded  a  Mr.  Morley  as 
fellow  in  1598  and  resigned  his  fellowship  in  1604. 
He  also  savs  that  Robinson  was  from  Not  tins- 
hamshire.  Xo"  satisfactory  authorities  are  given 
for  these  assertions,  and  they  add  nothing  trust- 
worthy to  the  scant  store  of  our  reliable  informa- 
tion. The  change  in  the  matter  of  counties  may 
be  explained  easily  if  Robinson  was  born  in  Gains- 
borough, as  the  Trent  is  the  dividing  line  between 
Lincolnshire  and  Nottinghamshire. 

Robinson  entered  the  L'niversity  of  Cambridge 
during  the  splendor  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. Four  years  before,  the  Lord's  winds  had 
blown  and  the  Spanish  Armada  had  gone  to  its  de- 
struction. The  menace  of  Philip  the  Catholic  had 
been  in  vain;  the  danger  of  a  return  to  the  policy 
of  Queen  Mary  was  averted.  In  contemporary 
life,  George  Chapman  was  thirty-five  years  of  age; 
Christopher  Marlowe,  twenty-eight;  Shakespeare, 
twenty-eight;  Ben  Jonson,  nineteen;  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  and  Edmund  Spenser,  forty;  Francis 
Bacon,  thirty-one;  Richard  Hooker,  thirty-eight; 
and  Joseph  Hall,  eighteen.  Thomas  Cartwright 
was  in  prison  in  the  Fleet,  London.  William  Per- 
kins was  preacher  at  St.  Andrews.  Henry  Jacob 
was  twentv-nine;  Robert  Browne,  fortv;  Francis 


62  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Johnson,  thirty;  Henry  Ainsworth,  twenty-one. 
Barrow  and  Greenwood  were  spending  their  last 
year  of  Ufe  on  earth  in  the  Fleet  prison.  This  was 
the  general  situation. 

Cambridge  University  as  a  whole  was  strongly 
colored  by  Puritanism.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
place  was  liberal,  and  there  certainly  was  consider- 
able laxity  in  the  enforcement  of  rigid  uniformity 
of  worship.  The  leaders  of  the  Separation  were 
almost  universally  Cambridge  men. 

Corpus  Christi,  or  Benet  College,  was  one  of  the 
smaller  of  the  Cambridge  group.  Its  Master  when 
Robinson  entered  was  Jegon,  who  was  also  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  the  University.  It  may  have  had 
about  one  hundred  and  ten  students  at  this  time. 
Robert  Browne,  his  coworker,  Harrison,  and  John 
Greenwood  had  all  been  students  at  this  college. 

We  have  no  particulars  concerning  the  course  of 
John  Robinson's  student  life  in  Cambridge  so  far 
as  its  objective  details  are  concerned.  He  took  a 
degree  at  the  university,  for  Joseph  Hall  writes  to 
him,  ^' You  have  twice  kneeled  to  our  Vice-Chan- 
cellor,  when  you  were  admitted  to  your  degree.''-^ 
Whether  this  w^as  the  master's  or  the  bachelor's 
degree  we  cannot  determine.  In  1598  or  1599 
Robinson  became  Fellow  of  the  university,  and 

^  "Common  Apologie,"'  p.  90. 


UNTIL   HE  JOIXS  THE  SEPARATISTS        (ilj 

prohahly  soon  al'tor  that  took  up  his  work  as  a 
curalr  in  the  C'hurcli  of  KnghuuL 

It  was  while  he  was  a  nieniber  of  the  church  estab- 
lished by  hiw  in  England  that  his  personal  religious 
life  began.  He  speaks  of  it  in  the  defense  of  the 
Separation  which  he  made  against  Richard  Ber- 
nard,^ as  follows: 

"We  do  with  all  thankfulness  to  our  God  ac- 
knowletlge,  and  with  much  comfort  remember, 
those  lively  feelings  of  God's  love,  and  former 
graces  wrought  in  us,  and  that  one  special  grace 
amongst  the  rest  by  which  we  have  been  enabled 
to  draw  ourselves  into  visible  covenant,  and  holy 
communion.  Yea  with  such  comfort  and  assurance 
do  we  call  to  mind  the  Lord's  work  of  old  this 
way  in  us,  as  we  doubt  not  but  our  salvation  was 
sealed  up  unto  our  consciences,  by  most  infallible 
marks  anrl  testimonies,  which  could  not  deceive, 
before  we  conceived  the  least  thought  of  se})ara- 
tion;  and  so  we  hope  it  is  w'ith  many  others  in  the 
Church  of  England,  yea,  and  of  Rome  also/' 

'*  And  for  our  personal  conversion  in  the  Church 
of  England  we  deny  it  not,  but  do,  and  always 
have  so  done,  judge  and  profess  it  true  there." 

Religion  was  a  matter  of  personal  relationship 
between  Robinson's  soul  and  God,  rather  than  an 
ofhcial  relationship  in  an  ecclesiastical  institution. 
He  described  it  in  the  terms  of  the  prevailing 
Calvinistic  theology  as  the  bestowment  upon  him 

'See  Works.  2:65.  75. 


64  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  a  special  divine  grace.  For  the  individual  this 
was  enough  to  enable  him  to  unite  himself  into 
covenant  relations  with  God.  This  change  of 
life  Robinson  described  reverently.  It  vv^as  rad- 
ical. It  embraced  his  whole  being.  From  that 
time  on  he  was  a  ''new  man  in  Christ  Jesus."  If 
Robinson  entered  the  university  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen it  is  hardly  likely  that  an  experience  of 
w^hich  he  speaks  so  profoundly  would  have  come 
into  his  life  before  that  age.  We  are  probably 
safe  in  ascribing  the  change  which  Robinson  calls 
his  conversion  to  the  period  of  his  university 
career.  It  was  a  time  peculiarly  adapted  to  a 
fundamental  examination  of  his  personal  relations 
to  God,  and  for  the  settlement  of  the  purposes 
which  should  thereafter  control  his  life.  We  shall 
discover  that  he  was  very  sensitive  to  personal 
influences,  and  that  the  greatest  decisions  of  his 
life  were  reached  through  personal  contact  with 
men  whose  opinion  and  character  he  respected. 
So  far  as  we  can  determine  the  forces  which  oper- 
ated upon  him  in  Cambridge  to  transform  the 
motives  of  his  life,  they  emanated  chiefly  from 
William  Perkins.  He  was  the  catechist  of  Christ 's 
College,  and  lecturer  at  St.  Andrew's  Church. 
Robinson  always  held  Perkins  in  the  highest 
esteem,  speaking  of  him  as    ' '  one  of  our   own 


UNTIL  HE  JOIXS   Till-:  SEPARATISTS         (55 

nation,  of  great  account,  and  that  worthily,  with 
all  that  fear  God,  however  he  were  against  us  in  our 
practice."'^  Robinson  also  wrote  and  published 
a  supplement  to  Perkins'  "The  Foundation  of  the 
Christian  Religion,"  which  book,  he  says,  fully 
contains  "what  every  Christian  is  to  believe 
touching  God  and  himself."^  The  supplement 
published  by  Robinson  takes  up  the  subjects 
peculiar  to  Separatist  teaching  only.  Hence  Rob- 
inson found  in  the  teachings  of  Perkins  those 
fundamental  truths  necessary  to  religious  conver- 
sion, as  he  conceived  it. 

Robinson  took  orders  in  the  Church  of  England. 
In  IGIO  he  classes  himself  with  John  Smyth  and 
others  of  the  Separation  as  having  ' '  renounced 
our  ministry  received  from  the  bishops,  and  do 
exercise  another  by  the  people's  choice."'^  In 
thus  entering  upon  his  life's  work  he  was  following 
out  the  native  bent  of  his  character  and  taking  up 
a  duty  which  he  loved.  He  was  a  pastor  rather 
than  a  controversialist,  and  when,  later  in  life,  he 
was  drawn  into  the  intense  and  often  bitter  dis- 
cussions which  attended  the  Separation,  he  wrote, 

"  The  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  a  most^ excellent 
thing,  and  the  fruits  of  it  far  better  than  those  of 
Eden,  and  oh!  how  hajDpy  were  we,  if,  with  ex- 

'  Works,  2:  44G.  -  Ibid.,  3:  420.  ">  Il)i  1.,  2:  405. 


66  JOHN  ROBINSON 

change  of  half  the  days  of  our  hves,  we  might 
freely  publish  it  to  our  own  nation  for  the  con- 
verting of  sinners. ''  -^ 

This  first  slight  glimpse  which  we  get  into  the 
heart  of  the  young  minister  shows  us  a  man  of 
simple,  noble  purpose,  the  whole  trend  of  whose 
life  is  rehgious,  seeking  through  the  avenues  of 
preaching  and  pastoral  care  to  give  himself  lav- 
ishly to  the  weal  of  his  fellow  men.  He  is  such  a 
spirit  as  we  should  expect  to  find  expressing  him- 
self through  the  avenue  of  the  Christian  ministry. 

The  general  nature  of  his  short  term  of  pastoral 
service  in  the  Church  of  England  we  can  construct 
from  what  we  know  of  the  man's  nature,  and  from 
a  few  slight  contemporary  witnesses.  It  was  a 
time  filled  with  earnest,  faithful  service  to  his 
parish. 

Neal  says :  ^  — 

"Mr.  John  Robinson  was  a  Norfolk  divine 
beneficed  about  Yarmouth,  where  being  often 
molested  by  the  bishop's  officers,  and  his  friends 
almost  ruined  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  he  re- 
moved to  Leyden,  and  erected  a  congregation  upon 
the  model  of  the  Brownists.'' 

If  Robinson  was  a  curate  or  rector  at  Yarmouth, 
this  parish  never  occupied  the  place  in  his  heart 

1  Works,  3:37. 

2  • '  History  of  the  Puritans, "  1 :  244. 


UNTIL  HE  JOINS  THE  SEPARATISTS        67 

that  was  held  by  anotlier  placo  wIkmt  h(^  worked, 
Norwich.  Henry  Ainsworth,  who  probably  came 
from  the  region  of  Norwich  himself,  says  in  his 
"Counterpoyson":  ^  — 

"  Witness  the  late  practice  in  Norwich,  wdiere 
certain  citizens  were  excommunicated  for  resort- 
ing unto  and  praying  with  Mr.  Robinson,  a  man 
worthily  reverenced  of  all  the  city  for  the  graces 
of  God  in  him  (as  yourself  also,  I  suppose,  will 
acknowledge)  and  to  whom  the  care  and  charge 
of  their  souls  was  erewhile  committed." 

Here  Ainsworth  definitely  describes  Robinson's 
position  as  having  established  his  reputation  in 
the  city  of  Norwich  itself.  Hence,  it  would  seem 
that  the  sphere  of  his  labor  was  near  Norwich  or  in 
the  very  city. 

The  same  conclusion  must  be  drawn  from  the 
preface  of  one  of  Robinson's  minor  wTitings,  "  The 
People's  Plea  for  the  Exercise  of  "Prophecy,"'  in 
which  he  dedicates  his  treatise  "  To  my  Christian 
Friends  in  Norwich  and  thereabouts."^  In  the 
course  of  this  dedication  he  says,  ''And  for  you, 
my  Christian  friends,  towards  whom  for  your 
persons  I  am  minded,  even  as  when  I  lived  with 
you,  be  you  admonished  by  me."  The  entire 
tone    of    this    preface  and   dedication  is  like  the 

'  Edition  of  1642,  p.  145. 
-  Works.  3:  285  ff. 


68  JOHN  ROBINSON 

tenderer  letters  of  St.  Paul  to  the  congregations 
which  he  had  gathered,  but  from  which  he  had 
been  compelled  to  separate.  Robinson  still  bore 
his  people  upon  his  heart,  rejoiced  in  their  suc- 
cess, and  sorrowed  with  their  trials  and  perscu- 
tions. 

Let  us  look  briefly  now  at  the  general  religious 
character  of  this  region  about  Norwich.  Norfolk 
had  received  the  great  influx  of  refugees  who  had 
been  driven  out  of  the  Netherlands  during  the 
period  of  Roman  Catholic  persecution.  These 
immigrants  represented  the  best  of  the  Flemish 
weavers,  and  they  brought  prosperity  particularly 
to  Norfolk  and  London.  The  city  of  Norwich 
was  thereby  advanced  to  a  position  of  commer- 
cial leadership  second  only  to  London.  In  1587 
the  Dutch  and  Walloons  formed  a  majority  of  the 
city's  population.  But  they  brought  more  than 
their  frugality  and  skill  in  the  textile  arts. 
They  were  Protestants  ;  many  among  them  be- 
bclonged  to  the  despised  Anabaptists.  It  was 
among  these  people  that  the  Lollard  movement 
took  deepest  root  and  spread  most  rapidly. 
Norfolk  was  the  chief  sufferer  in  the  persecutions 
during  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  Norwich  was 
early  counted  as  a  Puritan  stronghold.  There 
Robert  Browne  had  gathered  his  first   church,   a 


VSriJ.  II E  JniXS   THE  SEPARATISTS        69 

few  niombfTS  of  which  probably  remained  and 
perpetuated  their  organization  as  late  as  1603. 

This  was  the  general  character  of  the  sphere  in 
which  Kobinson,  coming  from  the  strong  Puritan 
atmosphere  which  he  evidently  had  breathed  in 
Cambridge,  began  his  ministry.  The  former  Master 
of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Jegon,  became  Bishop 
of  Norwich  in  February,  1602.  Robinson  soon 
became  involved  in  trouble  with  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities,  probably  on  account  of  failure  to  con- 
form in  the  use  of  the  ceremonies  prescribed  by  the 
Prayer-Book.  The  trouble  at  first  was  not  seri- 
ous. He  was  subject  to  the  same  annoyance  and 
discipline  that  Richard  Bernard,  and  other  Puritan 
preachers,  met  occasionally.  The  whole  difficulty 
might  have  been  obviated  had  he  been  willing 
to  conform  fully  to  the  requirements  of  the  Prayer- 
Book.  As  he  retorts  to  Bernard,  ''We  might 
have  enjoyed  both  our  liberty  and  peace,  at  the 
same  woeful  rate  with  you  and  your  fellows" — 
that  is,  by  conformity.  ^ 

But  Robinson  never  complained  of  what  he  had 
suffered.  Xor  did  he  move  forward  because  he 
was  driven  by  resentment.  He  seems  to  have 
moved  slowly,  and  he  shrank  from  taking  the  step 
of   final  separation  until  he  had  exhausted  every 

'  See  Works,  2:  54. 


70  JOHN  ROBINSON 

expedient  which  would  enable  him  to  remain  in 
the  Church  of  England  and  still  preserve  his  con- 
victions regarding  its  communion,  polity  and  wor- 
ship. 

He  evidently  sought  to  free  himself  from  the 
censure  which  he  had  received.  Joseph  Hall  says 
to  him,  "  As  for  absolution,  you  have  a  spite  at  it, 
because  you  sought  it,  and  were  repulsed."^ 

In  what  way  Robinson  thus  sought  to  set  him- 
self right  with  the  church  authorities  we  do  not 
know.  But  the  next  step  which  he  took,  proba- 
bly after  he  had  been  suspended  from  the  minis- 
try, certainly  before  he  had  either  left  Norwich  or 
decided  fully  for  Separation,  was  to  attempt  to 
secure  a  chaplaincy  to  some  nobleman,  or  to  serve 
in  a  private  chapel  or  hospital.  Here  the  condi- 
tions of  conformity  were  not  so  rigid,  and  it  was  a 
frequent  expedient  with  the  Puritan  preachers. 
He  applied,  therefore,  for  the  Mastership  of  the 
hospital  at  Norwich,  but  failed  to  secure  it.  While 
this  matter  was  pending,  Robinson  probably  re- 
mained, a  suspended  minister,  in  Norwich.  His 
attitude  is  probably  fairly  represented  by  Joseph 
Hall,  who  says: — 

^'Tell  us,  how  long  was  it  after  your  suspension 
and  before  your  departure,  that  you  could  have 

'  "Common  Apologie, "  p.  77. 


rsrii.  Ill-:  .miss  the  .•^eiwuatists      71 

been  content,  upon  condition  (that  is,  the  appoint- 
ment to  a  chaplaincy  or  the  hospital)  to  have  worn 
this  linen  ba(lge  of  your  'man  of  sin?'  Was  not 
this  your  resolution  when  you  vrent  from  Norwich 
to  Lincolnshire  after  your  suspension?"  ^ 

There  is  another  reference  to  the  same  fact  by 
Hall,  in  the  'Common  Apologie"^  as  follows: 

''Before  that  God  and  his  blessed  Angels  and 
Saints,  we  fear  not  to  protest,  that  w^e  are  undoubt- 
edly persuaded,  that  whosoever  wilfully  forsakes 
the  Comnmnion,  Government,  Ministry,  or  Wor- 
ship of  the  Church  of  England,  are  enemies  to  the 
Septre  of  Christ,  and  Rebels  against  his  Church 
and  Anointed:  neither  doubt  we  to  say,  that  the 
Mastership  of  the  Hospital  at  Norwich,  or  a  lease 
from  that  city  (sued  for  with  repulse),  might 
have  procured  that  this  Sep.  fr.  the  Com.  Govt. 
&  A\'orship  of  the  Ch.  of  Eng.  should  not  have 
been  made  by  John  Robinson," 

The  time  soon  came,  therefore,  when  Robinson 
found  that  a  restoration  to  his  clerical  office  was 
impossible;  his  friends  were  suffering  heavy  losses 
by  fines  from  the  courts;  and  there  was,  at  least 
near  Norwich,  no  place  in  which  he  could  exercise 
his  ministry  without  full  conformity.  He  went, 
he  tells  us.  to  many  places  where  he  hopeil  to  find 
satisfaction  to  his  ''troubled  heart."     There  is  a 

'  See  Hanbury,  "Historical  Memorials."  1:  198. 
-  Page  113. 


72  JOHN  ROBINSON 

tender  pathos  in  the  few  words  with  which  Robin- 
son refers  to  his  experience  at  this  great  crisis  in 
his  hfe.  All  his  desires  were  set  toward  ministry 
in  the  church.  He  longed  to  preach;  he  yearned 
to  carry  forward  his  task  of  pastoral  care  in  a 
parish.  The  testimony  of  Bastwick-^  is  probably 
trustworthy  as  showing  the  real  ground  of  Robin- 
son's decision: — 

"  If  I  can  speak  thus  much  in  the  presence  of 
God,  that  Master  Robinson  of  Leiden,  the  pastor 
of  the  Brownist  Church,  there  told  me  and  others, 
who  are  yet  living  to  witnesse  the  truth  of  what  I 
now  say,  that  if  he  might  in  England  have  injoyed 
but  the  liberty  of  his  Ministry  there,  with  an  immu- 
nity but  from  the  very  Ceremonies,  and  that  they 
had  not  forced  him  to  a  subscription  to  them,  and 
impressed  upon  him  the  observation  of  them,  that 
hee  had  never  separated  from  it,  or  left  that 
Church." 

He  did  not  reach  the  decision  easily.  He  went 
to  many  places  seeking  help  in  his  trouble.  Among 
these,  he  visited  Cambridge.  He  had  come  to  the 
point  where  he  saw  plain  arguments  warranting 
separation;  ]:)ut  he  did  not  yet  take  the  step. 
Reaching  Cambridge  he  went  to  hear  a  forenoon 
lecture  by  Lawrence  Chadderton,  who  had  been 
Master  of  Emanuel  College  since  its  foundation 

'  "The  Utter  Routing  of  the  Whole  Army  of  all  the  Independents  & 
Sectaries, "  1646,  cxvii. 


vxriL  JiE  jnixs  the  separatists      73 

in  3584,  and  was  a  famous  lecturer.  The  lecture 
which  he  heard  was  to  the  effect  that  "  the  things 
which  concerned  the  whole  church  were  to  be  de- 
clared publicly  to  the  whole  church  and  not  to 
some  part  only.''  This  seemed  to  him  to  confirm 
one  main  ground  of  the  Separatist  teaching,  that 
is,  "  that  Christ  hath  given  his  power  for  excommu- 
nication to  the  whole  church."  In  all  the  parish 
assemblies  he  could  find  no  church  having  this 
power  or  so  exercising  it. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  he  went  to 
hear  a  lecture  by  Paul  Baynes,  the  successor  of 
William  Perkins  in  St.  Andrews.  The  theme  of 
this  lecture  also  fitted  the  questioning  mood  of  the 
hearer.  It  was  ^'the  unlawfulness  of  familiar 
conversation  between  the  servants  of  God  and  the 
wicked.''  Some  years  afterwards  Robinson  was 
able  to  reproduce  the  argument  of  this  lecture  in 
brief  outline,  showing  that  he  took  notes  of  it  or 
listened  most  intently.  In  private  conversation 
with  Baynes  soon  afterward  he  questioned  the 
lecturer  as  to  whether  his  position  did  not  neces- 
sitate a  separation  in  spiritual  matters  of  the 
righteous  from  the  apparently  wicked,  even  in  the 
parish  assemblies. 

The  influence  of  these  Cambridge  men  upon 
him  was  very  strong.     He    does  not  give  us   any 


74  JOHN  ROBINSON 

details  concerning  his  movements  from  Cambridge 
to  Gainsborough.  All  we  know  is  that  he  finally 
appeared  in  more  or  less  intimate  connection  with 
a  Separatist  congregation  which  had  been  formed 
there.  If  Gainsborough  was  his  early  home  it 
is  quite  natural  to  account  for  his  appearance 
there.  He  had  become  a  Separatist  during  the 
time  after  he  left  Norwich. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  subjective  history  of 
Robinson's  decision  for  the  Separation.  We 
have  a  fairly  satisfactory  record  of  it  here  and 
there  in  his  writings.  The  first  impression  that 
we  receive  concerning  it  is  that  the  whole  mental 
change  is  the  natural  result  of  those  forces  which 
we  have  found  working  upon  him  in  his  environ- 
ment. His  experience  is  not  to  be  explained  as 
the  result  of  a  solitary  struggle.  The  lone  agony 
and  the  new  vision  which  had  been  experienced 
by  Luther  were  not  the  way  in  which  Robinson 
came  to  his  final  position.  As  Marcks  says  of 
John  Calvin,^  ''he  was  penetrated  slowly  by  the 
new  spirit;  he  did  not  need  to  build  for  himself 
his  own  way  to  knowledge;''  Luther  had  done 
this  for  himself  and  for  all  men. 

At  the  outset  Robinson  was  a  member  of  the 
State  Church,  and  his  ambitions  were  toward  its 

1  Life  of  Coligny,  Vol.  1 :  p.  282. 


UNTIL   UK  jniXS  THE  SEPAh'ATlSTS         7.-, 

ministry.  So  far  as  the  doctrines  of  that  church 
were  concerned  he  held  them  without  (Hssent. 
Like  Barrow,  he  made  a  chstinction  between 
the  '^ faith"  and  ''order"  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Of  the  former  he  made  no  question.  All 
the  difficulty  he  experienced  was  with  the  latter. 

The  general  influences  of  Cambridge  we  have 
noted.  It  must  have  been  while  here  that  he 
began  to  read  books  written  in  defense  of  the 
Separation,  ''the  taste  of  which,"  he  says,  was 
"sweet  as  honey  unto  my  mouth. "^  But  he  did 
not  go  to  the  extreme  of  Separation.  The  per- 
sonal influence  of  men  like  Perkins  held  him 
firmly  in  check.  Here  we  discover  one  of  the 
determining  traits  of  his  character,  his  thorough 
respect  for  the  learning  and  judgment  of  others. 
Indeed,  this  becomes  at  times  almost  an  element 
of  weakness  with  him.  He  found  it  necessary  to 
apologize  for  the  fact  that  he  did  not  follow  out 
his  ver}'  first  convictions  to  their  logical  conclu- 
sion in  Separation  by  saying : — 

"The  very  principal  thing,  which  for  the  time 
c^uenched  all  further  appetite  in  me,  was  the  over- 
valuation which  I  made  of  the  learning  and  holi- 
ness of  these  [Cambridge  men,  such  as  Whitaker, 
Perkins,  Cartwright,  and  others]  and  the  like  per- 
sons,  blushins:   in   myself  to   have   a   thought  of 

'  Works.  2:51. 


76  JOHN  ROBINSON 

passing  one  hair  breadth  before  them  in  this  thing, 
behind  whom  I  knew  myself  to  come  so  many 
miles  in  all  other  things.'' 

So  he  began  his  ministry.  The  theoretical  life 
of  the  student  was  exchanged  for  the  practical 
life  of  the  pastor.  Theories  concerning  church 
government  came  to  the  test  of  practical  use.  It 
was  a  question  as  to  which  form  of  polity  would 
enable  the  church  to  realize  its  ideal  of  a  commun- 
ion of  saints.  This  was  the  Calvinistic  concep- 
tion which  Robinson  held  concerning  the  church: 
it  was  a  body  of  men  and  women  who  gave  visible 
signs  of  the  spiritual  change  known  as  regeneration. 
With  this  conception  of  the  church  the  young  min- 
ister, a  man  of  ethical  earnestness,  encountered 
the  parish  system  of  the  Church  of  England  in  a 
region  wdiose  atmosphere  was  permeated  with 
radical  thought  concerning  the  true  order  of  church 
government. 

This  was  a  new  stage  in  Robinson's  experience. 
The  Ciuestion  of  theory  became  a  question  of  prac- 
tice. At  first  the  ceremonies  were  a  rock  of  offense 
to  him.  But  now^  he  faced  the  question.  Could 
the  church,  as  organized  under  the  parish  system, 
effect  its  own  purification?  That  purification  was 
necessary  in  order  to  a  true  church.  If  the 
Church  of  England  was  powerless  to  this  end,  then 


UMIL  HE  JOIXS  THE  SEIWRATISTS         77 

some  other  form  of  church  government  was  imper- 
ative. The  whole  question  was  open  again,  this 
time  from  another  point  of  view.  Again  there 
was  the  same  sense  of  weight  to  be  given  to  the 
opinions  of  other  men;  but  the  final  court  of  appeal 
was  not  human  oi)inion;  it  was  the  Scriptures. 
Robinson  tells  the  story  himself  briefly: — 

''  Yea,  and  even  of  late  times,  when  I  had  entered 
into  a  more  serious  consideration  of  these  things, 
and,  according  to  the  measure  of  grace  received, 
searched  the  Scriptures,  whether  they  were  so  or 
no,  and  by  searching  found  much  light  of  truth; 
yet  was  the  same  so  dimmed  and  overclouded 
with  the  contradictions  of  these  men  and  others 
of  the  like  note,  that  had  not  the  truth  been  in  my 
heart  as  a  burning  fire  shut  up  in  my  bones  (Jer. 
20:9)  I  had  never  broken  those  bonds  of  flesh  and 
blood,  wherein  I  was  so  straitly  tied,  but  had 
suffered  the  light  of  God  to  have  been  put  out  in 
mine  own  untruthful  heart  by  other  men's  dark- 
ness." 

Therefore,  convinced  by  practical  experience 
that  the  "order"  of  the  Anglican  Church  was 
incapable  of  realizing  the  ideal  of  the  church  as 
the  communion  of  saints,  and  sure  that  the  Scrip- 
tures prescribed  another  "order,"  in  which  gov- 
ernment by  bishops  formed  no  part,  Robinson 
followed  the  light  of  his  new  conviction  and  became 


78  JOHN  ROBINSON 

a  Separatist.  He  cast  in  his  lot  among  his  breth- 
ren at  Gainsborough.  We  shall  now  follow  him 
as  he  moves  forward  quickly  to  a  secure  position 
of  leadership  among  them. 


IV 

THE  SCROOBY  CONGREGATION 
AND  THEIR  LIFE  AT  MISTERDAM 


SCROOBY   MANOR 


CHAPTER  1\' 

THE    K.MIGRATIOX   OF   THE   SCROOBY   CONGREGATION 
TO    AMSTERDAM    AND   THEIR    LIFE    THERE 

The  gathering  of  the  Scrool:)}'  congregation  in 
the  old  manor  house  could  not  go  on  without  at- 
tracting the  attention  of  the  officers  of  the  Church 
of  England,  who  were  compelled  to  alert nes'^  by 
the  severe  penalties  which  the  canons  of  1603-4 
pronounced  against  those  who  failed  to  present 
non-conformists  for  punishment.  The  Separatist 
ministers  were  silenced,  the  people  who  sympa- 
thized with  t'hem  were  subjected  to  the  contempt 
of  their  fellows,  and  finally  the  heavy  hand  of  the 
law  was  laid  u})on  them.  They  were  cited  before 
the  courts  and  life  was  made  a  burden  for  them. 
They  endured  it  patiently  for  years.  ^ 

The  most  earnest  of  the  Puritan  ministers  in 
the  vicinity  were  not  at  all  unwilling  to  see  the 
schismatic  movement  crushed  out  by  drastic  meas- 
ures, and  there  are  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  a 
few  of  them  were  personally  ready  to  bear  a  hand 
in    it.     In    1000    Francis   Johnson    had    written, 

'  See  Bradford,  -'(^f   PHmoth  Plantation."  Boston,  1S9S.  p.  12. 
81 


82  JOHN  ROBINSON 

''not  the  Prelates  alone,  but  you  also  [i.e.  the 
zealous  Puritans]  have  wittingly  and  willingly 
your  hand  in  our  blood."  ^  The  strife  between  the 
Puritan  preachers  and  the  Separatists  in  the  neigh- 
borhood became  sharp.  One  of  them,  Richard 
Bernard,  according  to  the  testimony  of  John  Rob- 
inson, 

"  did  separate  from  the  rest  an  hundred  voluntary 
professors  into  covenant  with  the  Lord,  sealed 
up  with  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  forsake  all  known 
sin,  to  hear  no  wicked  or  dumb  ministers,  and  the 
like,  which  covenant  long  since  you  have  dissolved, 
not  shaming  to  affirm  you  did  it  only  in  policy 
to  keep  your  people  from  Mr.  Smyth.''  ^ 
This  shows  how  sharp  the  collision  was  between 
the  men  who  had  advanced  to  the  pronounced 
positions  of  Puritanism,  and  the  men  who  were 
carrying  out  those  positions  to  their  full  logical 
conclusion.  It  was  a  struggle  for  Me  between  the 
two  sorts  of  congregations. 

So,  subjected  to  a  cross-fire  from  the  alert  Angli- 
can officials  on  the  one  side  and  the  exasperated 
Puritan  preachers  on  the  other,  the  Separatists 
in  Scrooby  met  such  persecution  as  to  make  their 
life  almost  unendurable.  Then  they  turned  long- 
ing eyes  to  Holland.     The  conditions  of  religious 

>  "An  Answer  to  Master  H.  Jacob  his  Defence, "  1600. 
-•  Works,  2:  101. 


THE  SCROOBY    COXGRECiATIOX  83 

toleration  which  obtained  there  were  well  known; 
it  was  accessible  by  ship  from  such  ports  as  Hull 
and  Boston;  and  there  was  before  them  for  their 
encouragement  the  example  of  the  Ancient  Lon- 
don Church  and  John  Smyth's  congregation. 

But  it  was  one  thing  to  reach  their  decision  to 
emigrate,  as  Bradford  says  they  did  "by  joynte 
consent/'  and  quite  another  to  carry  out  their 
plans.  It  was  against  the  laws  of  the  realm  for 
any  one  to  leave  the  ports  of  England  without  the 
king's  consent.  Just  why  such  a  law  should  be 
enforced  against  the  poor  Separatists,  of  whom 
the  church  authorities  were  glad  to  be  rid,  and 
whose  offenses  made  them  the  legitimate  objects 
of  banishment,  is  hard  to  see.  It  was  enforced, 
however,  and  so  the  Separatist  leaders  were  com- 
pelled to  make  secret  bargains  with  sea  captains 
and  to  pay  exorbitant  rates  for  passage. 

The  first  attempt  was  made  by  "a  large  com- 
panie"  of  the  Scrooby  congregation,  who  bar- 
gained with  a  captain  for  the  exclusive  use  of  his 
ship.  He  agreed  to  meet  them  at  a  specified  time 
and  place  and  to  take  them  and  their  goods  to 
Holland.  This  captain  was  an  Englishman,  and 
the  place  of  meeting  was  near  Boston. 

The  date  of  this  enterprise  can  be  determined 
with  tolerable  accuracy  from  the  official  records 


84  JOHN  ROBINSON 

concerning  William  Brewster.  The  declared  ac- 
counts of  Sir  John  Stanhope  for  wages  of  post- 
masters on  the  road  between  London  and  Berwick 
contain  the  amounts  paid  to  William  Brewster 
from  April  1,  1594,  until  they  ceased  September 
30,  1607.  We  can  be  certain  that  Brewster  did 
not  yield  his  official  position,  which  involved  so 
vitally  the  whole  Separatist  interest  in  Scrooby, 
until  he  was  compelled  to  do  so  by  openly  joining 
in  the  emigration.  Therefore  the  first  movement 
toward  Holland  probably  took  place  in  October 
and  November,  1607.  ^ 

The  perfidy  of  the  English  captain,  however, 
involved  it  in  disaster.  He  delayed  his  coming 
beyond  the  time  agreed  upon,  thus  involving  the 
poor  people  in  great  anxiety  and  expense.  Then 
he  took  them  on  board  and  betrayed  them  all  to 
the  officers.  The  Boston  officials  who  seized  the 
would-be  exiles  treated  them  harshly,  took  them 
to  the  shore  in  open  boats,  searched  and  rifled 
them,  and  made  them  a  public  spectacle  in  the 
town.  The  magistrates,  however,  seem  to  have 
been  more  lenient  with  them.  They  were,  indeed, 
committed  to  prison,  whence  they  could  not  be 
released  without  the  consent  of  the  Privy  Council. 

1  The  whole  matter  of  Brewster's  relation  to  the  Scrooby  post-office 
is  worked  out  in  Arber,  "Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  pp.  71-86. 


THE  SCfiOOBY  COXOREGATJOX  85 

This  pormission  came  within  the  course  of  a  month, 
when  all  were  released  and  sent  home  with  the 
exception  of  seven,  who  were  kept  in  prison  and 
bound  over  to  the  assizes  for  trial. 

Who  these  seven  were  we  cannot  tell.  Doubt- 
less Brewster  was  openly  connected  with  the  move- 
ment and  probably  also  Robinson,  Clyfton  and 
Bradford. 

In  the  spring  months  of  1608  another  attempt 
was  made  by  a  considerable  company,  including 
many  who  had  failed  in  the  Boston  effort,  and 
others  who  had  not  before  ventured  upon  the 
dangerous  enterprise.  This  time  they  entrusted 
themselves  to  a  Dutch  captain,  who  agreed  to 
meet  thorn  at  a  meadow  on  the  shores  of  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Humber  between  Hull  and  Grimsby. 
The  women  and  the  goods  were  sent  ahead  in  a 
small  boat;  the  men  were  to  meet  them  by  land. 
But  either  the  small  boat  was  a  day  too  early  or 
the  Dutch  captain  a  day  too  late,  and  the  small 
boat  put  into  a  creek,  where  she  grounded.  The 
next  morning  the  ship  came  and  took  a  part  of  the 
men  on  board;  but  before  the  women  and  goods 
could  be  taken  from  the  small  boat,  which  was 
still  grounded,  the  officers  came,  the  Dutch  cap- 
tain set  sail,  and  the  poor  emigrants  were  divided. 
The  men  on  board  the  ship  suffered  an  intensely 


86  JOHN  ROBINSON 

stormy  passage  of  two  weeks  before  they  finally 
reached  Holland.  The  officers  were  left  with  a 
company  of  women  and  innocent  children  on 
their  hands,  whom  they  could  hardly  punish  and 
were  finally  glad  to  release.  Thus  the  second 
effort  of  the  emigrants  failed. 

They  seem  to  have  learned  wisdom  from  these 
disasters.  They  saw  that  any  effort  to  escape 
in  a  body  was  bound  to  be  futile.  The  nucleus 
wdiich  escaped  with  the  Dutch  captain  were  already 
in  Holland  and  thus  could  aid  their  brethren  from 
that  side.  Therefore  they  escaped,  a  few  at  a 
time.     In  the  picturesque  words  of  Bradford, — 

"  they  all  gat  over  at  length.  Some  at  one  time, 
and  some  at  another:  and  some  in  one  place  and 
some  in  another:  and  met  together  again,  accord- 
ing  to   their  desires,  with  no   small  rejoicing."-^ 

Such  were  some  of  the  trials  through  which 
the  Separatists  passed  in  their  effort  to  reach  Hol- 
land. The  results  of  it  were  twofold.  The  arrest 
of  so  many  people  at  Boston  and  Hull  awakened 
discussion,  and  brought  the  Separation  more  and 
more  to  popular  attention.  And  then  the  hard- 
ship through  which  the  people  passed  sifted  out 
the  weak  and  faint-hearted.  Twice  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  were  thus  sifted ;  once,  when  they  removed 

^  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  p.  21. 


THE  SCROOBY  COSGREGATIOS  S7 

from  Scrooby  to  Amsterdam;  again,  when  they 
made  the  emigration  from  Leyden  to  Plymouth. 
They  were  men  of  sturdy  stuff. 

The  Scrooby  brethren  were  compelled  to  move 
to  Holland  slowly.  Not  all  of  them  went  over.  In 
1614  Robinson  referred  to  the  members  of  his  con- 
gregation still  remaining  in  England.  ^  Among  the 
last  to  leave  were  Robinson,  Brewster  and  '  other 
principall  members."  This  was  the  natural  thing 
under  the  conditions.  Robinson  carried  out  the 
same  plan  in  the  later  emigration  from  Leyden 
to  America,  remaining  in  Holland  with  the  weaker 
members  of  his  church,  and  planning  to  go  to 
America  so  soon  as  he  should  be  able  to  leave. 

Among  the  last  to  leave  Scrooby  was  Richard 
Clyfton.  By  this  we  are  able  to  determine  the 
date  when  the  Scrooby  congregation  finally  gath- 
ered in  Amsterdam.  For,  in  the  family  Bible  of 
Richard  Clyfton 's  son  Zachary,  there  occurs  this 
entry : — 

''  Richard  Clyfton,  with  his  wife  and  children, 
came  to  Amsterdam,  in  Holland,  August  IGOS." 
We  may  be  quite  sure  that  Clyfton  was  among  the 
leading  members  of  the  Scrooby  company  who 
were  the  last  to  come  over  from  England.  Hence, 
the  time  occupied  by  this  effort  to  reach  Holland 
was  from  about  October  1,  1G07,  to  August,  160S. 

'  See  Works.  3:102. 


88  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Thus  the  Scrooby  brethren  found  themselves 
at  last  together  in  Amsterdam.  It  was  a  city  in 
which  there  was  large  freedom  in  religious  mat- 
ters.    Andrew  ^larvell  wrote, 

"  Hence  Amsterdam,  Turk-Christian-Pagan-Jew, 
Staple  of  sects,  and  mint  of  schism  grew ; 
That  Bank  of  Conscience,  where  not  one  so  strange 
Opinion  but  finds  credit  and  exchange."  ' 

And,  in  an  open  letter  to  John  Robinson,  which 
probably  reached  him  soon  after  he  arrived  in 
Amsterdam,  Joseph  Hall  says  of  the  city,  "Lo! 
there  a  common  harbour  of  all  opinions,  of  all 
heresies  if  not  a  mixture.'"^  And  it  is  probably 
true  that,  at  this  time,  ''you  might  understand 
more  of  England  at  Amsterdam  than  at  London. "  ^ 
On  reaching  the  city,  Robinson  found  several 
congregations  of  English-speaking  people  who 
were  allowed  freedom  of  worship  by  the  magis- 
trates. There  was  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  church, 
whose  minister,  Rev.  John  Paget,  wrote  '"An 
Arrow  against  the  Separation  of  the  Brownists'' 
in  1618.  This  book  gives  evidence  that  he  knew 
quite  intimately  the  history  of  the  Separatist  con- 
gregations in  the  city. 


"Satires.      Character  of  Holland,  "  p.  71. 

Quoted  in  Robinson's  "Answer  to  a  C 

03. 

See  Mullinger.  "Introduction  to  English  History,"  p.  318. 


^Quoted  in  Robinson's  "Answer  to  a  Censorious   Epistle,"  Works. 
3:403. 


THE  srixDonv  cos(iBi:a.\Tio\  so 

The  Ancient  London  Church  had  been  in  Am- 
sterdam, passing  through  a  stormy  period  of 
existence,  since  1597.  In  his  book,  'The  Story 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  Arber  makes  a  severe 
arraignment  of  this  church  on  the  ground  of  the 
immoral  character  of  its  members.  His  indict- 
ment rests  upon  the  trustworthiness  of  certain 
sources  which  surely  are  oj^en  to  question  on  that 
point,  and  it  is  to  be  doubted  if  the  character  of 
this  Ancient  London  Church  is  as  black  as  he  paints 
it.  It  is,  however,  a  sad  story  of  family  and  church 
wrangling  at  the  best.  The  year  during  which 
the  Scrooby  brethren  resided  in  Amsterdam  was  a 
period  of  repressed  hostility  between  the  factions 
in  the  Ancient  Church.  The  old  troubles  were 
still  alive,  and  this  fact  was  evidently  clear  to  Rob- 
inson, who  was  as  far-sighted  an  observer  of  men 
as  he  was  an  ardent  lover  of  peace. 

The  otlier  congregation,  of  which  John  Smyth 
was  pastor,  may  have  numbered  among  its  mem- 
bers some  of  the  very  neighbors  of  the  Scrooby 
Church  in  England.  At  the  beginning  the  Gains- 
borough company  probably  worshiped  with  the 
Ancient  London  Church;  Smyth  was  a  restless 
soul,  who  could  not  be  at  peace  long  vmder  the 
most  favorable  conditions.  He  soon  made  a  point 
of  conscience  of  minor  matters,  and  withdrew  from 


90  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  fellowship  of  the  Ancient  Church.  Finally  he 
became  a  Baptist,  was  cast  out  of  his  congrega- 
tion, and  the  storm  in  his  church  was  at  its  height. 
This  condition  of  things  was  intolerable  to  a  man 
of  Robinson's  temper. 

Meantime,  w^hat  was  the  condition  of  the  Scrooby 
church  in  Amsterdam?  It  has  been  maintained 
sometimes  that  the  Scrooby  brethren  were  united 
w^ith  the  Ancient  London  Church  while  in  the  city. 
Joseph  Hall,  in  his  ^'Common  Apologie  of  the 
Church  of  England,"  calls  Francis  Johnson,  pas- 
tor of  the  Ancient  London  Church,  the  '^pastor" 
of  John  Robinson.  This  would  imply  that  Robin- 
son w^as  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Church.  Noth- 
ing can  be  inferred  from  Hall,  however,  concerning 
the  real  situation  in  Amsterdam.  He  probably 
knew  only  that  the  congregations  from  the  vicinity 
of  Gainsborough  had  emigrated,  and  supposed  that 
they  were  united  with  the  older  congregation. 
Much  more  light  is  thrown  upon  the  matter  from 
Bradford's  statement  that  when  the  Scrooby 
church  prepared  to  move  from  Amsterdam  to 
Ley  den,  and  Richard  Clyfton  chose  not  to  go  with 
them,  they  dismissed  him  to  the  Ancient  London 
Church.  This  action  would  not  have  been  taken 
if  the  Scrooby  church  had  not  maintained  sepa- 
rate existence  during  the  Amsterdam  sojourn. 


THE  SCh'OOBY   COXGiay.ATlOX  'Jl 

Probably  the  Scrooby  church  met  for  worship, 
perhaps  together  with  the  Ancients,  in  a  large 
and  gloomy  building,  which  had  been  a  convent, 
and  stood  in  the  street  that  still  bears  the  name 
of  the  Brownists'  Alley,  from  the  fact  that  the 
English  Separatists  met  there. 

We  have  avoided  up  to  this  point  any  discus- 
sion of  the  question  of  Robinson's  official  relation 
to  the  Scrooby  church.     Now  it  must  be  taken  up. 

At  the  very  beginning  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  considerable  confusion  in  regard  to  the 
matter.     There  are  at  least  two  sets  of  opinions. 

The  first  is  that  the  officers  of  the  church  "were 
chosen  in  Scrooby  before  the  emigration,  and  that 
Richard  Clyfton  was  the  pastor  and  John  Rob- 
inson the  teacher.  This  is  claimed  with  varying 
accents  of  certainty  by  Morton  Dexter,  ^  Arber,^ 
John  Brown,'^  Goodwin,"^  and  Dunning.^  Walk- 
er'' thinks  that  the  greater  age  and  pastoral 
experience  of  Clyfton  make  it  likely  that  he  was 
chosen  pastor  rather  than  Robinson;  but  it  may 
have  been  the  reverse.     He  quotes  Bacon  also  as 

'  "The  Story  of  the  Pilgrims,"  1894,  pp.  80.  84. 

*  "The  Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers."  1897,  pp.  29.  54. 
3  "The  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  N.  E.,"  1895,  p.  127. 

♦  "The  Pilgrim  Republic,"  1888,  pp.  25,  26. 
'•  "Congregationalists  in  America,"  p.  73. 

•^  "Creeds  and  Platforms  of  Congregationalism, "  p.  83. 


92  JOHN  ROBINSON 

saying  that  Clyfton    was    pastor   and   Robinson 
teacher. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  relative  offices  are  re- 
versed by  Hunter/  who  is  followed  by  Henry 
Martyn  Dexter.^  Hanbury  ^  is  generally  confused. 
These  writers,  however,  place  the  organization  in 
Scrooby  before  the  emigration. 

Ashton,^  also,  in  the  introductory  memoir  to 
Robinson's  ''Works,''  thinks  that  Clyfton  was 
chosen  the  pastor  of  Scrooby  church,  and  that 
Robinson  was  unofficially  associated  with  him. 
He  holds  that  Robinson  never  was  formally  called 
to  the  pastorate  until  Scrooby  church  reached 
Ley  den.  This  is  probably  the  ground  upon  which 
the  author  of  the  article  on  Robinson  in  the 
''Dictionary  of  National  Biography"  states  that 
Robinson  was  "publicly  ordained"  pastor  after 
Scrooby  church  reached  Ley  den. 

In  all  this  conflict  of  opinion  there  seems  to  have 
been  too  little  effort  to  get  at  the  sources,  which 
are  limited  and  obscure  enough  at  the  best,  in  the 
writings  of  Robinson  himself,  and  in  Bradford. 

The  first  reference  in  Robinson's  wTitings  which 

1  "Collections,"  &c.,  1854,  p.  41. 

•^  "Congregationalism  as  Seen,  etc. "    p.   317.      "The    True    Story   of 
John  Smyth,"  p.  6. 

^  "Historical  Memorials,"  1:  28n.,  185,  272. 
*  pp.  xxi  and  xxx. 


fc  .^A  i 


THE  SCROOBV  CONGREdATIOX  03 

we  will  cunsuliT  is  from  his  "  Defence  of  the  Doc- 
trine propounded  by  the  Synod  of  Dort,''  printed 
in  1624,  where  he  says, — 

"And  for  me,  do  they  not  know  in  their  con- 
sciences that  I  was  ordained  publicly  upon  the  sol- 
emn calling  of  the  church,  in  which  I  serve,  both 
in  respect  of  the  ordainers  and  ordained?"  ^ 

The  second  reference  is  from  the  concluding 
words  of  the  preface  to  Robinson's  treatise,  "Of 
Religious  Communion,''  1614,  from  w^hich  it  is 
clear  that  the  rigid  Separation  was  the  reason  why 
Robinson  could  not  unite  with  Smyth,  and  the 
same  matter  was  brought  up  when  he  was  chosen 
pastor. 

"I  was,"  he  says,  "by  some  of  the  i)eople  with 
him  [Smyth],  excepted  against,  when  I  was  chosen 
into  office  in  this  church.  Indeed  afterwards 
finding  them  of  other  churches,  with  wdiom  I  was 
most  nearly  joined,  otherwise  minded  for  the  most 
part,  I  did  .  .  .  remit  and  lose  of  my  former 
resolution."  *^ 

Now  this  points  almost  unmistakably  to  the 
year  spent  in  Amsterdam.  For  the  arguments  in 
favor  of  the  rigid  separation  in  Robinson's  book, 
"Justification  of  Separation  from  the  Church  of 
England,"  must    have  been    brought  into    shape 

'  Works.  1 :  4G3-464. 
•  Works,  3:  103. 


94  JOHN  ROBINSON 

either  during  the  last  part  of  his  sojourn  in  Am- 
sterdam or  soon  after  he  reached  Leyden.  It  was 
during  the  year  in  Amsterdam  also  that  he  was 
most  closely  in  contact  with  other  churches,  to  the 
personal  influence  of  which  he  ascribes  the  great 
change  in  his  ideas.  In  Amsterdam,  also,  it  would 
have  been  most  natural  that  an  objection  to  him 
might  have  come  from  members  of  John  Smyth's 
company. 

From  Robinson  let  us  turn  to  Bradford.  He 
says  that  '^besides  other  worthy  men,''  there  were 
in  the  Scrooby  Church,  "Mr.  Richard  Clyfton,'' 
"Mr.  John  Robinson,  who  afterwards  was  their 
pastor  for  many  years,"  "also  Mr.  William  Brew- 
ster .  .  .  who  afterwards  was  chosen  an  elder  of 
ye  church."^  Here  Clyfton  is  not  called  pastor, 
which  would  be  a  strange  omission,  inasmuch  as 
the  official  relation  borne  to  the  church  by  both 
Robinson  and  Brewster  is  mentioned.  Bradford 
is  as  provokingly  indefinite  as  Robinson  in  his  use 
of  the  term  "afterwards." 

There  is  another  reference  to  Clyfton  in  Gov- 
ernor Bradford's  "Dialogue,"  in  which  he  says, 

"He  belonged  to  the  church  at  Leyden;  but 
being  settled  at  Amsterdam,  and  thus  aged,  he 
was  loath  to  remove  any  more;  and  so  when  they 

1  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  14. 


THE  SCROOBY    CONGREGATION  95 

removed,  he  was  dismissed  to  them  tliere.  and  there 
remained  until  he  (Ued."^ 

We  have  referred  to  this  testimony  of  Bradford 
as  indicating  that  the  Scrooby  cliurch  maintained 
a  separate  existence  in  Amstenhun.  It  would 
seem  very  strange,  however,  that  Clyfton  should 
be  referred  to  simply  as  ''  belonging  "  to  the  Leyden 
church  if  he  had  been  their  pastor  either  in  Scrooby 
or  in  Amsterdam. 

But  there  is  a  still  more  definite  statement  in 
Bradford's  "History."     He  says: 

"Now  v;hen  Mr.  Robinson,  Mr.  Brew^ster,  k 
other  principall  members  were  come  over,  (for  they 
were  of  ye  last,  &  stayed  to  help  ye  weakest  over 
before  them,)  such  things  were  thought  on  as 
were  necessarie  for  their  setling  and  best  ordering 
of  ye  church  affairs.  And  when  they  had  lived 
at  Amsterdam  aboute  a  year,  Mr.  Robinson,  their 
pastor,  and  some  others  of  best  discerning,"  etc.^ 

This  seems  pretty  conclusive  evidence.  Brad- 
ford does  not  speak  of  this  as  a  further  or  more 
complete  settling  of  the  church  affairs,  but  refers 
to  it  as  the  first  definite  organization.  When  the 
last  of  the  Scrooby  brethren  are  leaving  England, 
Robinson  is  a  "principall  member"  only.  But, 
while   they  were   passing   througli   the    period  of 

'  See  the  Volume  "New  England's  Memorial,"  Boston,  1855,  p.  354. 
-  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  p.  22. 


96  JOHN  ROBINSON 

''aboute  a  year"  in  Amsterdam,  Robinson  seems 
to  acquire  the  title  of  pastor,  by  which  title  he  is 
thereafter  known  by  Bradford. 

Still  further  conclusive  is  the  petition,  to  which 
we  shall  refer  soon,  for  permission  to  settle  in  Ley- 
den,  which  is  headed  in  the  name  of  "Jan  Ro- 
barthse  [John  Robinson],  minister  of  the  Divine 
Word."  This  petition  was  acted  upon  February 
12,  1609,  previous  to  which  date  John  Robinson 
must  have  been  made  a  minister.  He  had,  as  w^e 
have  seen,  renounced  his  ordination  in  the  Church 
of  England.  Therefore,  before  February  12,  1609, 
he  must  have  been  ordained  by  the  Scrooby  church. 
But  in  August,  1608,  he  was  only  a  principal  mem- 
ber of  that  church. 

Therefore,  we  believe  that  the  Scrooby  church, 
gathered  in  and  about  the  English  hamlet  of  that 
name,  was  first  organized  with  officers  in  Amster- 
dam by  the  choice  of  John  Robinson  as  pastor, 
somewhere  between  August,  1608,  and  February, 
1609. 

Is  there  anything  inconsistent  with  this  condi- 
tion in  the  principles  of  the  Separatists?  They 
made  a  distinction  between  the  church  ''gath- 
ered" and  the  church  fully  organized  and  admin- 
istered by  its  officers.  According  to  the  teaching 
of  Robinson,  whenever  two  or  more  faithful  people 


THE  SCROOBY  CONGREGATION  97 

separate  from  the  world  and  unito  l)y  covenant 
into  the  fellowship  of  the  gos})el,  they  form  there- 
by a  true  church,  having  all  the  power  of  Christ 
to  choose  and  ordain  their  officers.  This  is  the 
"church  gathered."  The  officers  are  the  natural 
agents  through  whom  the  powers  resident  within 
the  church  are  exercised,  and  officers  ought  to  be 
chosen  for  the  full  settlement  of  church  order. 
But,  without  officers,  a  church  has  the  power  to 
receive  members,  to  excomnmnicate  those  found 
deserving  the  penalty,  and  to  hold  services  for 
edification  of  prophesying  and  exhortation.^  The 
sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
could  not  be  enjoyed  without  officers,  however. 

There  is  nothing  in  that  fraternal  and  informal 
life  in  Scrooby  which  demanded  perfection  of  or- 
ganization by  the  choice  of  officers.  It  was  a 
company  of  men  and  women  gathered  under  con- 
ditions similar  to  those  under  which  the  earliest 
companies  of  Christian  believers  gathered.  They 
needed  most  of  all  a  meeting-place  where,  in  a 
simple  service,  they  might  edify  one  another  and 
fortify  the  weaker  members  to  endure  persecution. 
When  they  reached  Amsterdam  these  conditions 
changed.  They  needed  to  take  their  place  as  a 
fully  organized  church  along  with   the^other  Eng- 

'  "Justification  of  Separation,"  2:  235. 


98  JOHN  ROBINSON 

lish-speaking  congregations  in  the  city.  Hence, 
the  conditions  of  the  two  locations  give  antecedent 
probabiUty  to  the  very  action  which  we  have  con- 
cluded did  take  place,  the  organization  of  the 
church  with  officers  for  the  first  time  in  Amster- 
dam. 

The  transition  from  the  country  life  of  England 
to  the  confusion  of  a  cosmopolitan  city  like  Am- 
sterdam was  a  startling  change  for  the  Scrooby 
church.  They  were  able,  however,  to  find  the 
means  of  livelihood  there  more  readily  than  they 
could  have  done  in  a  city  that  was  not  a  seaport. 
So  far  as  the  matter  of  self-support  and  freedom 
of  conscience  were  concerned  they  had  found 
Amsterdam  admirably  suited  to  their  necessities. 
There  were  other  causes  which  made  the  place 
untenable  for  permanent  residence  by  a  man  whose 
''vehement  desire  for  peace"  and  passion  for 
righteousness  were  as  strong  as  these  motives  were 
with  John  Robinson.  There  was  something  in  the 
general  moral  condition  of  the  city  which  led  him 
to  fear  for  the  welfare  of  his  congregation.  He 
was  obliged  to  admit  ''the  hellish  impieties''  of 
the  city  of  Amsterdam  during  his  time  of  residence 
there.  The  greatest  reason,  however,  which  in- 
duced .him  to  seek  another  place  of  residence  for 
his  church  was  the  hopeless  condition  of  the  sister 


THE  SCROOBY  CONGREGATION  99 

churches  in  the  city.  He  was  unable  to  do  any- 
thing to  pacify  the  factions  in  Smyth's  company; 
he  saw  the  immediate  prospect  of  renewed  hos- 
tiHties  in  the  Ancient  Church.  So  the  new'pastor, 
with  his  best  counselors,  began  to  look  about  for 
another  and  a  better  environment. 

The  significance  of  this  fact  we  must  not  fail 
to  observe.  The  history  of  the  Separation  up  to 
this  time  exhibits  loyalty  to  conviction  and  clear 
definition  of  principles.  But  the  one  thing  lack- 
ing was  a  leader,  wise,  far-sighted,  and  strong 
enough  to  take  these  principles,  involving  the 
elements  of  danger  that  they  did,  and  so  embody 
them  in  a  practical  enterprise  that  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  Separatist  theory  would  be  evident. 
Browne  had  failed;  Barrow  had  failed;  Johnson 
had  failed  and  was  still  failing;  Smyth  was  mak- 
ing a  miserable  spectacle  of  his  congregations  in 
Amsterdam.  The  Separation  seemed  doomed  to 
complete  disaster  unless  a  new^  champion  should 
appear. 

AVe  have  evidence  from  Robinson's  writings 
that  he  realized  keenly  the  dangers  involved  in  the 
principles  of  the  Separation.^  He  believed  that 
the  fundamental  convictions  of  the  Separatists 
rested  upon  a  deej^er  knowledge  of  the  real 
teachings  of  the  Scriptures,  a  larger  freedom  in 

»Se€  Works,  3:99.  100. 


100  JOHN  ROBINSON 

their  application,  and  a  more  abundant  zeal  for 
their  embodiment  in  an  institution,  than  the 
principles  underlying  any  other  religious  order. 
This  knowledge,  freedom  and  zeal,  however,  if 
unwisely  emploj^ed  by  the  Separatists,  Robinson 
told  them  very  plainly  would  inevitably  result 
in  the  very  contentions  for  which  their  foes  con- 
demned them  and  which  he  deplored.  But  peace 
is  not  a  sign  of  knowledge;  the  peace  of  the 
church  was  never  so  great  as  when  it  was  in  the 
very  midst  of  the  deepest,  darkest  and  densest 
ignorance  of  popery.  Knowledge  must  be  guarded 
with  special  watchfulness  lest  it  engender  strife. 
So  must  zeal  "be  tempered  with  much  wisdom, 
moderation,  and  brotherly  forbearance.^'  And 
only  those  who  enjoy  liberty  know  how  hard  it  is 
to  use  it  aright.  There  is  something  in  freedom 
which  begets  strife  unless  this  danger  is  resolutely 
mastered. 

This  keen  analysis  of  the  dangers  in  the  Sepa- 
ration was  not  an  academic  exercise  on  Robin- 
son's part.  He  recognized  these  perils.  He  acted 
in  view  of  them.  And  at  no  point  in  his  career 
are  his  foresight  and  sound  judgment  more  in 
evidence  than  when  he  decided  that  it  would  be 
impossible  for  him  to  realize  the  ideal  of  the 
Separation  in   the  environment   of    Amsterdam. 


THE  SCROOBY  CONGREGATION  101 

We  are  not  sure  of  all  the  reasons  that  deter- 
mined him  to  seek  Leyden,  but  one  of  them  surely 
was  the  fame  of  the  great  University,  which  was 
one  of  the  strongest  in  Europe  at  that  time.  The 
disadvantage  of  the  sfnaller  city  as  a  place  of  resi- 
dence on  the  practical  side  was  perhaps  overbal- 
anced by  this.  It  was  necessarily  more  difficult 
for  the  Separatists  to  support  themselves  in  Ley- 
den than  it  would  have  been  in  Amsterdam. 

They  petitioned  for  leave  to  settle  in  the  fol- 
lowing form,  which  is  recorded,  perhaps  somewhat 
freely,  in  the  language  of  the  Clerk  ^  in  the  Ley- 
den Court  Registers: — 

"  To  the  Honorable  the  Burgomasters  and  Court 
of  the  City  of  Leyden:  With  due  submission  and 
respect:  JAN  ROBARTHSE,  minister  of  the 
Divine  Word,  and  some  of  the  members  of  the 
Christian  Reformed  Religion,  born  in  the  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain,  to  the  number  of  one  hun- 
dred persons,  or  thereabouts,  men  and  women, 
represent  that  they  are  desirous  of  coming  to  live 
in  this  city,  by  the  first  of  May  next,  and  to  have 
the  freedom  thereof  in  carrying  on  their  trades, 
without  being  a  burden  in  the  least,  to  any  one. 
They,  therefore,  address  themselves  to  your  Hon- 
ors,  humbly  praying  that   your  Honors  will   be 

'  The  phrase  "in  this  city"  would  indicate  either  this,  or  that  the  peti- 
tion was  the  work  of  some  of  Robinson's  company  ihen  resident  in 
Leyden. 


102  JOHN  ROBINSON 

pleased  to  grant  them  free  consent  to  betake  them- 
selves as  aforesaid." 

The  Court  acted  on  this  petition  on  February 
12,  1609,  and  declared  that  ''the  coming  of  the 
memorialists  will  be  agreable  and  welcome." 

Two  points  are  worthy  of  note.  The  first  is 
that,  if  Robinson  reached  Amsterdam  in  August, 

1608,  at  about  the  same  time  with  Clyfton,  and 
planned  the  removal  to  Leyden  early  in  February, 

1609,  the  space  of  six  months  suffices  for  him  to 
come  to  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  Amsterdam  con- 
ditions and  determine  upon  the  new  plan. 

The  second  is  that  the  Scrooby  brethren  state 
that  they  are  in  such  financial  condition  or 
masters  of  such  trades  that  they  will  be  no  public 
burden.  We  know,  however,  that  they  were  not 
rich,  and  that  the  stmggle  was  a  severe  one  for 
them.  We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  Robinson 
had  already  organized  his  congregation  for  mutual 
help  in  some  way,  and  may  infer  a  beginning  of 
those  practical  enterprises  for  the  common  good 
of  the  congregation  which  we  shall  see  taking 
definite  shape  later,  and  which  make  the  Scrooby 
church  quite  unlike  the  other  Separatist  congre- 
gations of  the  time  in  the  saving  common  sense 
which  they  exhibited. 

Before  leaving  Amsterdam  Robinson  wTote  and 


THE  SCROOBY  C'OXGREGATIOX  103 

published  the  first  tract  that  we  have  preserved 
from  his  hand.  There  is  this  difference  to  be  noted 
between  the  Separatist  movement  in  and  about 
London  and  that  in  the  region  of  Gainsborough: 
while  the  leaders  of  the  former  wrote  and  published 
a  great  deal,  the  latter  movement  produced  no 
literature,  so  far  as  we  know.  One  of  the  most 
romantic  episodes  in  the  history  of  the  Separation 
is  the  manner  in  which  the  imprisoned  leaders  of 
the  Ancient  London  Church  prepared  the  copy, 
smuggled  it  to  Holland  and  secured  the  publica- 
tion and  distribution  of  their  books. ^  One  reason 
why  this  was  possible  was  doubtless  the  ease  with 
which  London  could  communicate  with  the  con- 
tinent. 

The  brethren  in  Gainsborough  and  Scrooby,  on 
the  other  hand,  probably  made  no  attempt  at  the 
written  defense  of  the  Separation.  At  least  we 
have  nothing  preserved  in  the  literature  of  the 
movement  there.  Robinson  only  began  to  pub- 
lish when  he  had  reached  Holland. 

It  was  a  time  when  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
freedom  of  the  press  in  England.  Printing  was 
carried  on  chiefly  in  London,  and  was  possible 
elsewhere  at  only  five  places.  In  London  the 
ownership  and  use  of  type  and  a  printing-press 

'  See  page  19. 


104  JOHN  ROBINSON 

by  persons  not  meeting  the  conditions  of  this 
ownership  was  a  crime  punished  by  imprisonment. 
These  conditions  were  that,  first  of  all,  they  should 
have  attained  a  certain  rank  in  the  "Compaiiy 
of  Stationers";  but,  among  these,  the  master 
printers  alone  were  allowed  to  have  hand  printing- 
presses.  In  May,  1615,  there  were  but  nineteen 
printing-shops  for  private  printing  in  all  London, 
at  the  head  of  each  one  of  which  was  a  master 
printer.  But  these  nineteen  men  controlled  only 
thirty-three  hand-presses.  These  presses  were 
locked  up  every  night,  and  the  work  in  each  shop 
was  carefully  investigated  every  week  by  offi- 
cers of  the  ''Company  of  Stationers."  Every 
book  was  required  to  be  licensed  by  a  represen- 
tative of  the  Church  and  by  one  of  the  wardens 
of  the  Company  of  Stationers  before  it  could  be 
printed.  Therefore,  every  book  was  under  com- 
plete control   of  bishop  and  king.^ 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  we  have  nothing  from  the  leaders  of  the 
Separation  about  Gainsborough  in  the  way  of 
printed  writings.  It  is  remarkable  that  we  have 
so  much  from  the  imprisoned  Separatists  in 
London. 

In  Amsterdam,   however,   Robinson  was  free. 

'  See  Arber,  "Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, "  pp. 18-20. 


THE  SCROOBY  CONGREGATION  105 

And  he  began  to  write.  We  shall  consider  the 
tract  which  he  published  there,  and  the  large 
treatise  which  he  doubtless  began  there,  in  the 
following  chapter. 

If  the  intention  of  the  Scrooby  church  as  ex- 
pressed in  their  petition  to  settle  in  Leyden  was 
carried  out  as  regards  time,  they  probably  reached 
their  new  home  about  the  first  of  May,  1609. 
Here  John  Robinson  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life  and  did  his  noble  work.  To  this  work  we  shall 
now  turn  our  attention. 


V 

THE  SEPARATION  AS  DEFINED  AND 
DEFENDED  BY  ROBINSON 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  SEPARATION  AS  DEFINED  AND  DEFENDED  BY 
ROBINSON 

John  Robinson  was  a  Separatist.  He  reached 
his  decision  after  a  time  of  intense  struggle. 
Having  become  convinced  that  the  Separation 
ought  to  be  made,  he  became  the  resolute  definer 
and  defender  of  the  truth  as  he  saw  it.  That 
truth  had  been  taught  by  Robert  Browne  and  by 
Henry  Barrow  with  different  degrees  of  emphasis 
laid  upon  one  phase  or  another  of  it.  Robinson 
was  called  into  controversy  with  the  antagonists 
of  the  Separation  and  made  his  peculiar  con- 
tribution to  the  history  of  the  movement  as 
his  predecessors  had  done.  It  was  a  significant 
contribution.  It  was  made  in  the  face  of  oppo- 
sition from  both  Anglican  and  Puritan  writers. 
The  sources  which  we  shall  use  are  the  brief  reply 
which  he  (Robinson)  made  to  the  Anglican, 
Joseph  Hall,  and  the  most  ambitious  of  his  works, 
the  "Justification  of  Separation, "  ^  against  the 
Puritan,  Richard  Bernard.     We  shall    not  dwell 

*  This  treatise  occupies  the  entire  second  volume  of  Robinson's  Works 
as  published  in  three  volumes.     It  will  be  cited  in  the  footnotes  of  this 
chapter  simply  by  the  page  to  which  reference  is  made. 
109 


no  JOHN  ROBINSON 

upon  the  detailed  arguments,  which  are  often 
tedious  and  sometimes  shallow;  but  we  will  take 
up  the  outline  of  the  Anglican  Church  order  as 
we  have  studied  it  briefly  from  the  Canons  of 
1603-4,  display  the  general  scope  of  Robinson's 
attack  upon  it,  and  then  exhibit  the  positive  and 
constructive  side  of  his  work  in  his  conception  of 
the  true  church  according  to  the  New  Testament 
model. 

It  was  sometime  during  the  year  1608  that 
Joseph  Hall,  an  able  minister  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  later  one  of  her  bishops,  who  had 
learned  something  of  Browne 's  doctrines  while  in 
Middelburg,  and  had  also  heard  of  the  Separation 
around  Gainsborough,  addressed  a  letter  to  John 
Smyth  and  John  Robinson  as  the  ^'Ringleaders" 
of  the  movement.  John  Robinson  replied  to 
this  letter  by  ''An  Answer  to  a  Censorious 
Epistle,''  w^hich  is  preserved  in  the  reply  to 
it  made  by  Hall  under  the  title,  "A  Common 
Apologie  of  the  Church  of  England."  Robinson 
wrote  the  reply  to  Hall's  letter  w^hile  he  was  in 
Amsterdam,  and  also  sent  it  out  from  that  city. 
It  is  a  tract  which  interests  us  chiefly  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  first  writing  of  Robinson  which 
remains  to  us,  and  that  it  shows  him  in  the  light 
of  a  thoroughgoing  Separatist. 


SEFARA  TIOX  DEFINED  1 1 1 

The  second  source  exhibits  fully  the  position 
of  Robinson  cOS  a  champion  of  the  Separation. 
It  is  entitled,  ''A  Justification  of  Separation 
from  the  Church  of  England  against  Mr.  Richard 
Bernard  his  Invective,  entitled  The  Separatist's 
Schismc."  It  was  begun  at  Amsterdam  during 
the  year  of  residence  there,  and  finished  and  pub- 
lished in  Leyden  in  1610.  Rev.  Richard  Bernard, 
in  reply  to  whose  book,  "Christian  Advertise- 
ments and  Counsels  of  Peace,"  it  was  written, 
was  a  vicar  of  the  Church  of  England,  whose 
parish  was  Worksop,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Scrooby,  and  who  had  personally  known  both 
Smyth  and  Robinson  there.  At  times  he  had 
seemed  on  the  point  of  becoming  a  Separatist, 
but  he  had  always  returned  to  conformity  to  the 
Church  of  England.  Yet  he  was  a  Puritan,  and 
wrote  arguments  against  the  ceremonies  which 
were  imposed  upon  the  church  by  the  Prayer- 
Book. 

From  these  two  sources,  therefore,  we  may  ex- 
pect a  fair  view  of  the  arguments  for  the  Separa- 
tion as  they  were  urged  against  both  the  Anglican 
and  the  Puritan  by  John  Robinson. 

From  the  perspective  of  the  present,  this  debate 
over  the  reasons  for  the  Separation  cannot  appear 
to  us  so  important  or  so  interesting  as  a  later 


112  JOHN  ROBINSON 

controversy  concerning  the  extent  of  Christian 
communion  which  we  shall  take  up.  But  at  the 
time  this  large  book  on  the  Separation  was  Rob- 
inson's most  important  work.  He  probably 
rated  it  as  the  greatest  service  which  he  performed 
for  the  cause  he  loved  and  defended.  And,  if 
we  seek  sympathetically  to  enter  into  it,  we  shall 
find  the  study  of  its  arguments  and  propositions 
a  matter  of  vital  interest. 

Before  we  turn  to  these  let  us  notice  the  temper 
of  the  time  in  respect  to  controversy.  When 
Robinson  took  up  his  pen  in  defense  of  the 
Separation  it  was  not  for  the  pleasure  of  a  scho- 
lastic exercise.  He  had  suffered;  so  had  his  peo- 
ple. Those  were  not  soft  times.  It  was  an  age 
of  invective  and  unsparing  rebuke  because  it 
was  a  time  when  opinions  were  a  matter  of  life 
and  death.  Men  did  not  make  apologies  as  a 
preliminary  exercise  to  the  process  of  decapita- 
tion; they  struck  quickly  and  fiercely,  intending  to 
give  fatal  blows.  This  is  the  quality  of  argument 
which  we  find  in  these  discussions.  Robinson's 
temper  is  gracious,  and  his  terms  are  generous, 
in  comparison  with  many  of  his  contemporaries. 
But  there  is  no  little  harshness  in  his  method 
as  he  deals  with  his  opponents. 

On  the  negative  side,  let  us  review  his  attack 


SEPARATION  DEFINED  113 

upon  the  Church  of  Enghiii'l,  as  we  have  already 
studied  it  at  the  close  of  Chapter  I. 

So  far  as  the  royal  supremacy  is  concerned, 
Robinson  is  an  Englishman,  loyal  to  the  core  to 
the  king.     He  says, 

"  The  King  indeed  is  to  govern  in  causes  eccle- 
siastical, but  civilly,  not  ecclesiastically,  using  the 
civil  sword,  not  the  spiritual,  for  the  punishing  of 
ofTenders.^ 

Hence  the  king  is  not  the  head  of  a  national 
church,  holding  a  unique  position.  If  he  is  a 
church  officer,  he  is  called  to  that  office  and  may 
be  deposed  from  it  by  the  church.  He  is,  then, 
only  a  ruling  elder  and  inferior  in  position  to  a 
teaching  elder.  Robinson  does  not  discuss  the 
question  at  length,  since  he  is  far  more  deeply 
concerned  with  the  office  of  the  bishop.  But,  in 
spite  of  his  loyalty  to  the  monarch,  his  denial  of 
the  validity  of  a  national  church  sweeps  away 
the  doctrines  of  the  royal  supremacy,  as  it  was 
commonly  held. 

Then  he  denies  the  apostolic  character  of  the 
Church  of  England.  He  shows  how  different 
the  method  of  gathering  the  apostolic  Church 
was  from  that  by  which  the  Church  of  England 
was    brought    together.     When    Christ    and    the 

'  Pa?e  278. 


114  JOHN  ROBINSON 

apostles    gathered  the  true  Church  of  the  New 
Testament, 

'Hhey  did  not  by  the  co-active  laws  of  men 
shufhe  together  good  and  bad,  as  intending  a 
new  monster  or  chimera,  but  admitted  of  such, 
and  none  other,  as  confesssed  their  sin  and  jus- 
tified God,  as  were  not  of  the  world,  but  chosen 
out  of  it.'^i 

The  New  Testament  Church  was  composed  of 
^'saints." 

Against  this  argument  both  Hall  and  Bernard 
replied  that,  while  this  was  doubtless  true,  there 
were  yet  wicked  members  in  the  churches  even 
in  the  apostles'  day,  and  this  fact  did  not  make 
them  false  churches.  The  abuses  at  Corinth  did 
not  make  it  necessary  for  the  true  Christians  in 
Corinth  to  separate  from  the  church  there  and 
form  a  new  one  of  their  own. 

We  come  here  to  a  critical  point  in  the  entire 
Separatist  position.  Robinson  takes  it  up  fully 
in  his  replies  to  both  his  opponents.  He  admits 
that  there  were  wicked  members  in  the  apostolic 
churches,  and  that  this  fact  did  not  make  it  nec- 
essary for  those  who  were  holy  in  those  churches 
to  separate  from  them.  But,  when  this  is  made 
a  warrant  for  remainingln^the  Church  of  England, 

1  Page  121. 


SEP  A  RATION  DE  FIX  I'D  115 

there  is  this  essential  (Ufference  to  bo  observed, 
which  makes  the  AngUcan  argument  of  no  vakie. 
These  apostoUc  churches  had  the  power  resident 
within  them,  the  power  of  Christ  given  to  the 
members  of  the  church,  to  ])urify  themselves 
and  to  reform  abuses.  But  in  the  Church  of 
England  this  power  exists  no  longer,  having  been 
usurped  by  the  bishops  and  the  church  thus 
robbed  of  that  which  makes  it  a  true  church, 
that  is.  the  power  to  reform  itself.  We  must  not 
lose  the  force  of  this  argument.  It  has  an  ethi- 
cal basis;  it  roots  in  the  demand  for  righteous- 
ness. For  the  early  Separatists  it  was  decisive. 
It  was  not  the  mingling  of  good  and  bad  in  the 
national  church,  but  the  fact  that,  under  the 
episcopal  order,  the  power  of  self-purification 
lodged  by  God  with  the.  people  was  lost,  which 
drove  John  Robinson  into  Separation. 

What,  then,  was  the  real  ground  of  this  Sep- 
aration, against  which  the  canons  pronounced 
such  censure,  and  concerning  which  Joseph  Hall 
wrote  to  Robinson,  ''even  murders  shall  abide 
an  easier  answer  than  separation"?  Ainsworth 
had  held  that  the  separation  was  from  the  cor- 
ruptions in  the  church  and  not  from  the  corrupt 
church.  Hall  thought  at  the  outset  that  this 
was  Robinson's  position,  and,  therefore,  did  not 


116  JOHN  ROBINSON 

class  him  as  a  thorough  Separatist.  But  Rob- 
inson takes  the  ground  in  his  '' Answer''  that 
the  separation  is  not  from  certain  corruptions 
which  are  manifest  chiefly  in  the  ceremonies, 
but  from  the  church  itself,  which  is  essentially 
corrupt  because  of  the  wickedness  within  it  w^hich 
it  is  impotent  to  reform.  Hall,  therefore,  in 
his  ''Apologie"  brands  Robinson  as  a  complete 
Brownist.  This  position  is  elaborated  in  the 
discussion  with  Bernard.  It  is  in  reality  another 
statement  of  the  old  principle  of  "connivance 
at  sin."  When  Bernard  asks  why  Robinson  can- 
not remain  w^ithin  that  church  where  his  con- 
version took  place,  and  expend  his  zeal  there  for 
its  purification,  the  answer  is  that  Separation 
from  that  church  is  necessary  in  order  to  avoid 
personal  sin.     He  says, 

"But  this  I  hold,  that  if  iniquity  be  committed 
in  the  church,  and  complaint  and  proof  accord- 
ingly made,  and  that  the  church  will  not  reform 
or  reject  the  party  offending,  but  will  on  the 
contrary  maintain  presumptuously  and  abet  such 
impiety,  that  then,  by  abetting  that  party  and 
his  sin,  she  makes  it  her  own  by  imputation  and 
enwraps  herself  in  the  same  guilt  with  the  sinner. 
And  remaining  irrejormahle  either  by  such  mem- 
bers of  the  said  church  as  are  faithful,  or  by 
other  sister  churches,  wipeth  herself  out  of  the 


SEPA  HA  TION  DKFISEI)  1 1 7 

Lord's  Church-roll,   aii<l   now   ccasclh   to   be  any 
longer  tlic  true  church  of  Christ."^ 

Exactly  this  condition,  Robinson  maintained, 
existed  in  the  Church  of  England  as  it  was  then 
constituted.  Separation,  therefore,  was  not  a 
form  of  registering  a  protest  against  the  cere- 
monies prescribed  by  the  Prayer-Book  or  the 
form  of  church  government  by  bishops.  It  was 
a  necessity  in  order  to  avoid  personal  sin.  The 
extent  to  which  the  Separation  must  be  carried 
we  will  notice  later  when  we  consider  more  fully 
Robinson's  positive  teaching. 

So  far  as  the  creed  named  in  the  canons  was 
concerned,  Robinson  was  ready  to  accept  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  the  older  Forty-tw^o. 
He  charged  Hall  with  the  fact  that  erroneous 
heresies  concerning  free  will  were  stealing  in 
among  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England, 
but  he  did  not  enter  into  any  discussion  of  dogma 
as  distinct  from  polity.  He  acknowledged  "  many 
excellent  truths  of  doctrine,  which  we  also  teach 
without  commixture  of  error,"  in  the  Church 
of  England.  But  Robinson  maintained  that  the 
order  of  the  church  was  an  essential  part  of  any 
body  of  doctrine.     He  said: 

"Since   Jesus   Christ,   not   only   as   priest   and 

>  Page  2G0. 


118  JOHN  ROBINSON 

prophet,  but  as  king,  is  the  foundation  of  his 
church;  and  that  the  visible  church  is  the  King- 
dom of  Christ;  the  doctrines  touching  the  sub- 
jects, government,  officers,  and  laws  of  the  church 
can  be  no  less  than  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
same  church  or  kingdom/'^ 
And  again, 

"  The  order  which  Christ  hath  left  in  the  Evan- 
gelists, Acts,  and  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus, 
is  a  part  of  the  Gospel  and  the  object  of  faith 
as  much  as  any  other  part  of  it.'"^ 

It  is  often  said  that  the  entire  Separatist  con- 
tention was  concerning  polity  and  not  concern- 
ing theology,  as  if,  after  all,  the  Separation  was 
made  on  the  ground  of  an  external  quibble  in- 
stead of  being  based  upon  something  which  was 
essential,  involving  faith,  and  utterly  necessary 
to  the  existence  of  a  true  church.  Robinson  was 
perfectly  clear  on  this  point.  Polity  was  a  part 
of  a  divinely  given  body  of  truth.  Apart  from 
any  question  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  their  con- 
viction, it  must  be  clear  that  the  Separation 
was  made  by  men  who  believed  that  church  pol- 
ity was  as  much  an  essential  part  of  church  doc- 
trine, and  as  much  an  object  of  faith,  as  the  Being 
of  God  or  the  Person  of  Christ.  The  question  of 
the  true  order   of  the  church  was  not  a  matter 

1  Page  397.         -  Pages  22,  287. 


SEPARATIOX  DEFIXKD  110 

of  external  form  or  accidence;  it  was  fundamental 
and  Vv'orth  contending  for  at  the  risk  of  life  itself. 
We  will  dismiss  \'ery  briefly  Robinson's  at- 
tack upon  the  Church  of  England.  The  idea  of 
a  national  church,  he  maintains,  is  the  attempt 
to  return  to  the  Old  Testament  order,  which 
has  been  done  away  with  forever  by  the  insti- 
tution of  the  order  laid  down  by  Christ  and  the 
apostles  in  the  New  Testament.  In  that  order 
there  is  no  trace  whatever  of  the  prelatic  system 
employed  in  the  government  of  the  Church  of 
England.  ''  Your  grand  metropolitans,  3'our  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  suffragans,  deans,  archdeacons, 
chancellors,  officials,  and  the  residue  of  that 
lordly  clergy''^  find  no  warrant  in  the  simple 
church  order  of  Christ  and  the  apostles.  The 
parish  S3\steni  is  also  repugnant  to  the  idea  of 
the  church  as  a  communion  of  saints.  ''With 
what  conscience,"  he  asks,  "can  any  man  plead 
the  saintship  of  all  that  godless  crew  in  the  Eng- 
lish assemblies?"  The  Anglican  worship,  too,  is 
false,  since  the  ceremonies  of  the  Prayer-Book 
have  usurped  the  highest  place,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Word,  which  is  the  supreme  function 
of  worship,  is  omitted  because  of  the  inability 
of  the  Anglican  ministers  in  a  vast  number  of 
parishes. 

'  rp.?e  171. 


120  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Robinson's  attack,  which  is  often  harsh,  but 
generally  less  venomous  than  was  the  custom 
in  his  day,  is  pretty  well  fortified  by  citing  the 
witness  of  men  whose  books  he  possessed,  or  by 
appeals  to  his  own  knovrledge  of  the  conditions 
in  such  parishes  as  Worksop. 

We  have  passed  hastily  the  negative  side  of 
Robinson's  argument,  in  order  that  we  might 
devote  more  space  to  the  positive  and  construct- 
ive teaching  which  appears  everywhere  in  his 
writings.  For,  while  Robinson  is  intense  in  his 
controversy,  he  is  not  merely  destructive.  He 
defends  his  positions  by  maintaining  positive 
doctrine  rather  than  by  wholesale  attack  upon 
his  opponents. 

Let  us  look  at  his  conception  of  the  true  church. 
It  is  drawn  entirely  from  his  definition  of  the 
perfect  model  in  the  New  Testament.  The  exi- 
gencies of  controversy  lead  him  to  emphasize 
one  or  another  of  the  elements  in  the  definition 
at  different  times;  but  he  preserves  it  through- 
out in  these  general  terms: 

^'A  company,  consisting  though  but  of  two  or 
three,  separated  from  the  world,  whether  un- 
christian or  antichristian,  and  gathered  into 
the  name  of  Christ  bv  a  covenant  made  to  walk 


SEPA  RA  TION  DEFIXED  1 2 1 

in  all  the  ways  of  God  known  unto  them,  is  a 
church,  and  so  hath  the  whole  power  of  Christ."^ 
First,  then,  the  true  church  is  an  individual 
congregation.  Robinson  bases  this  claim  upon 
the  fact  that  Jesus  and  the  apostles  in  the  begin- 
ning— 

"appointed  none  other  true  visible  churches 
but  particular  congregations  of  faithful  people.'"'^ 

The  subject  matter  of  the  church  is  persons 
who  have  separated  themselves  from  the  w^orld, 
that  is,  are  ''saints."  The  regenerate  character 
of  the  persons  forming  the  true  Church  is  set 
over  against  the  condition  of  the  parishes  in  the 
Church  of  England  in  sharp  contrast. 

But  this  company  of  "saints''  is  not  merely 
united  by  the  simple  spiritual  bond  which  must 
link  all  believers  according  to  the  necessary  affini- 
ties of  their  life  in  Christ.  They  are  "gathered" 
into  companies  for  communion  and  mutual  help- 
fulness. The  true  church  exists  in  an  organized 
company. 

The  bond  in  this  organization  is  not  allegiance 
to  any  system  of  churcli  government  or  group 
of  ofhcers.  It  is  a  covenant  with  God,  who  is 
the  source  of  all  light  and  the  object  of  all  love, 
to  walk  in  his  w^ays.     We  must  not  fail  to  notice 

•  Page  132.        ■  Page  388. 


122  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  terms  of  the  Scrooby  covenant.  It  does 
not  consider  the  revelation  of  God's  will  as  yet 
perfectly  made.  Those  early  Separatists  cove- 
nanted to  walk  in  all  his  ways  ''made  known, 
or  to  be  made  known"  unto  them.  They  were 
going  to  school  to  God.  The  windows  were  open 
to  the  hght.  Their  faces  were  set  forward.  That 
splendid  covenant  stands  as  an  open  challenge 
to  every  one  who  charges  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
with  bigotry  and  hardness. 

And  lastly,  this  single  congregation,  thus  united 
in  covenant,  has  the  w^hole  power  which  Christ 
gave  his  Church,  lodged  within  itself.  No  man 
or  body  of  men,  no  state  or  assembly,  is  to  do 
for  it  what  God  has  equipped  it  to  do  for  itself. 
It  is  to  choose  its  minister  and  ordain  him;  it  is 
to  receive  or  expel  its  members;  it  is  to  endow 
its  ordained  officers  with  the  power  to  admin- 
ister the  sacraments. 

This  is  the  Church  of  the  Separation  standing 
out  in  marked  contrast  with  the  elaborate  eccle- 
siastical system  outlined  in  the  Canons  of  1603- 
04. 

We  must  notice  at  this  point  Robinson's  posi- 
tion concerning  polity,  as  defining  his  place  among 
the  leaders  of  the  Separation.  It  turns  on  the 
discussion  of  where  the  ''ruling  power  of  Christ" 


SEPARATIOX  DKFISED  123 

is  placed.  The  starting-point  of  the  discussion  is 
Bernard's  statement  that 

"  the  Papists  plant  the  ruling  power  of  Christ 
iu  the  Pope;  the  Protestants,  in  the  bishops; 
the  Puritans,  in  the  presbytery;  the  Brownists, 
in  the  body  of  the  congregation,  the  multitude 
called   the   church." 

Robinson's  general  teaching  concerning  polity 
may  be  grouped  to  advantage  about  this  state- 
ment. 

In  the  first  place,  he  resents  any  insinuation 
that  the  elders  do  not  fully  exercise  the  func- 
tions of  government  in  the  Separatist  congrega- 
tions.    He  says, 

''We  profess  the  bishops,  or  elders,  to  be  the 
only  ordinary  governors  of  the  church."  ^ 

He  then  proposes  a  medley  of  polity,  wandering 
in  the  dark  toward  what  we  should  now  term 
democracy.  There  are,  he  claims,  three  kinds  of 
polity  for  the  church  which  are  good  and  Lawful: 

''monarchical,  where  supreme  authority  is  in  the 
hands  of  one;  aristocratical,  when  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  some  few  select  persons;  and  demo- 
cratical,  in  the  whole  body  or  multitude.  And 
all  these  three  forms  have  their  places  in  the 
Church  of  Christ.  In  respect  of  him,  the  Head, 
it  is  a  monarchy;  in  respect  of  the  eldership,  an 

'  Pa?e  7. 


124  \  JOHN  ROBINSON 

aristocracy;  in  respect  of  the  body,  a  popular 
state.'' ^ 

This  is  not  a  new  idea.  In  the  fourth  Martin 
Marprelate  tract  of  1588-89  the  same  general 
thought  had  been  advanced.  But  Robinson  car- 
ries it  out  fully.     In  the  first  place,  although  the 

''Lord  Jesus  is  the  King  of  his  Church  alone, 
upon  whose  shoulders  the  government  is,  and  unto 
whom  all  power  is  given  in  heaven  and  earth,'' 

he  has  nevertheless  communicated  this  power  to 
the  members  of  the  church,  making  each  mem- 
ber a  prophet,  to  teach;  a  priest,  to  offer  the 
spiritual  sacrifice  of  praise  and  prayer  for  him- 
self and  others;  and  a  king,  to  guide  and  govern 
himself  and  others  in  the  ways  of  godliness.  Thus 
the  power  of  Christ  is  imparted  directly  to  the 
members  of  the  church.  But  just  as  the  exigen- 
cies of  actual  government  might  bring  a  multitude 
of  kings  together  to  consult  concerning  common 
interests  and  administer  their  mutual  affairs,  in 
which  case  they  would  choose  and  appoint  some 
few  to  be  over  them  for  the  purpose  of  the 
orderly  administration  of  those  affairs,  "so  in 
this  royal  assembly,  the  Church  of  Christ,  though 
all  be  kings,"  yet  some  are  set  over  the  rest  to 
govern  in  an  office  which  is  a  service  of  ministry. 

1  Page  140. 


SEPARATIOy  DE FIXED  125 

Thus  arises  in  the  church,  from  the  rlemo- 
cratic  function  1o(1.q;o(1  within  it  by  God  the  King, 
the  aristocracy  of  the  presbytery. 

"The  Lord  Jesus,"  says  Robinson,  "  hath  given 
to  his  church  a  presbyter}^  or  college  of  elders  or 
bishops  .  .  .  for  the  teaching  and  governing  of 
the  whole  flock  according  to  his  will;  and  these 
the  multitude,  jointly  and  severally,  is  bound  to 
obey,  all  and  every  one  of  them."  ^ 

But  it  is  one  thing  for  the  officers  to  govern  the 
church  and  the  people  to  be  bound  to  obey  them; 
it  is  quite  another  thing  to  say  "the  church  is  the 
officers."  The  latter  statement  Robinson  repudi- 
ates. The  power  of  the  officers  is  given  to  them 
"  mediately  by  Christ  from  the  church. " 

And  yet,  near  as  this  is  to  democracy,  Robin- 
son is  so  anxious  to  defend  himself  and  his  church 
from  the  charge  of  "anarchy"  and  "confusion," 
that  he  is  unwilling  to  allow  the  Separatist  polity 
to  be  called  "democratic."  Although  he  asserts 
that  in  the  church  all  have  equal  power  and  voice, 
the  officers  only  guiding  them  in  their  action,  as 
is  the  case  of  the  speaker  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, yet  he  expressly  says, 

"  The  external  church  government  under  Christ, 
the  only  mediator  and  monarch  thereof,  is  plainly 

»  Page  142. 


126  JOHN  ROBINSON 

aristocratical,  and  to  be  administered  by  some 
certain  choice  men,  although  the  state,  which 
many  unskilfully  confound  with  the  government, 
be  after  a  sort  popular  and  democratical."  ^ 

Here  appears  one  of  those  fine  distinctions  which 
we  shall  find  sometimes  appearing  at  critical 
junctures  in  Robinson's  writing.  The  Church, 
in  its  ideal  relation  to  its  invisible  Head,  is  a 
monarchy;  in  the  authority  which  it  possesses 
and  exercises,  it  is  a  democracy;  but  its  external 
system  of  government  is  an  aristocracy,  the  elders 
being  the  chosen  agents  for  the  exercise  of  the 
ruling  povv'er  of  Christ.  This  was  Robinson's 
theory.  Before  we  can  classify  his  position  in 
relation  to  Barrow  and  Brov/ne,  however,  we 
must  see  how  he  organized  his  church  practically 
in  Ley  den. 

The  church  comes  first;  then  the  officers  are 
chosen;  and  a  company  of  Christian  believers 
gathered  into  covenant  relations  ma}^  be  called 
a  church  even  if  they  have  no  officers.  We  have 
called  attention  to  this  point  in  discussing  the 
matter  of  the  complete  organization  of  the  Scrooby 
church  in  Amsterdam. 

Looking  at  the  New  Testament  model,  Robin- 
son finds  that  there  were  five  classes  of  officers 

1  "Just  and  Necessary  Apology, "  Works,  3:  42. 


SEP  A  RA  TIOX   DKFIXEl)  1 27 

appointed  for  it.  Tlie.^c  were  apostles,  prophets, 
evangelists,  pastors  and  teachers.  The  first  three 
were  temporary.  The  last  two  are  permanent. 
Pastors  and  teachers  may  be  assigned  to  par- 
ticular congregations  only.  They  may  both  be 
called  ciders  or  bishops.  The  pastor  is  ruling 
elder;  the  teacher,  teaching  elder.  Of  these  the 
teaching  elder  is  far  more  important  than  the 
ruling  elder;  even  the  king  himself,  as  a  ruling 
elder,  would  be  inferior  to  the  teaching  elder  of 
a  church.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  ministry 
at  large;  the  minister  of  a  congregation  ceases  to 
be  a  minister  if  the  congregation  be  dissolved. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  ''order"  of  the 
ministry.  The  minister  (either  pastor  or  teacher) 
is  one  of  the  brethren  and  does  not  cease  to  be  a 
brother  in  the  church  when  chosen  to  his  office. 
He  must  possess  the  mental  and  spiritual  quali- 
fications for  such  an  office,  be  examined,  chosen 
and  ordained  by  the  church,  and  be  subject  to 
their  censures  in  case  of  misconduct  or  infidelity. 
In  concluding  this  study  of  the  grounds  of  the 
Separation  we  must  observe  to  what  extent  it 
was  to  be  carried.  We  have  seen  already  that, 
after  an  intense  struggle,  Robinson  reached  his 
decision  for  the  Separation  and  went  to  Gains- 
borough, where  he  found   John   Smyth   carrying 


128  JOHN  ROBINSON 

his  doctrine  to  the  bitter  end,  and  insisting  upon 
a  complete  withdrawal  from  every  act  of  religious 
communion,  even  to  the  extent  of  reading  the 
Scriptures  and  private  prayer,  between  the  Sep- 
aratists and  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 
It  was  on  this  account  that  Robinson  refused 
to  join  Smyth  and  later  cast  his  fortunes  with 
the  Scrooby  brethren.  We  should,  therefore,  ex- 
pect to  find  him,  in  these  first  controversies, 
maintaining  the  same  position  which  he  had  held 
against  Smyth.  We  are  no  little  surprised,  then, 
to  discover  him  an  advocate  of  the  rigid  Separa- 
tion in  his  debate  with  Bernard.  Two  of  the 
errors  which  Bernard  charged  against  the  Sepa- 
ratists were  that  they  refused  to  hear  any  min- 
isters of  the  Church  of  England  preach,  and  that 
they  held  it  to  be  unlawful  to  join  in  prayer  with 
any  of  them. 

Robinson  defends  the  Separatists  in  this  respect. 
He  says, 

"Communion  is  a  matter  of  order  or  relation; 
the  holiness  of  a  man's  person  is  not  sufficient 
[warrant]  for  communion,  but  withal  it  must 
be  ranged  into  the  order  of  a  church,  wherein 
both  his  person  and  actions  must  combine." 

Therefore,  he  concludes, 

"we  ought  to  communicate  both  in  prayer,  and 


SEI'ARATinX  DEFISED  129 

in  all  the  other  ordinances  of  God,  with  all  God's 
children,  except  they  themselves  hinder  it,  or 
put  a  bar;  which  we  are  persuaded  they  in  the 
Church  of  England  do,  in  choosing  rather  the 
connnunion  of  all  the  profane  rout  in  the  Kingdom 
under  the  prelates'  tyranny,  than  the  communion 
of  saints,  which  Christ  hath  established  under  his 
government."  ^ 

And  so,  although  the  ground  is  not  covered  by 
any  lengthy  argument  for  the  practice,  Robinson 
here  commits  himself  to  the  rigid  Separation. 

We  turn,  therefore,  to  seek  the  reason  for  this 
change.  He  gives  it  himself  in  the  preface  of  a 
treatise  issued  in  1614,  in  which  he  returned  to 
his  first  position.  Here  he  says  concerning  his 
argument  with  Bernard, 

''Indeed  afterwards  [that  is,  after  his  election 
as  pastor  of  the  Scrooby  church,  when  he  was 
objected  to  by  members  of  John  Smyth's  church 
on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  rigid  Separatist] 
finding  them  of  other  churches,  with  whom  I 
was  most  nearly  joined  [in  Amsterdam],  other- 
wise minded  for  the  most  part,  I  did,  through 
my  vehement  desire  of  peace,  and  weakness 
withal,  remit  and  lose  of  my  former  resolution; 
and  did,  to  speak  as  the  truth  is,  forget  some 
of  my  former  grounds;  and  so  have  passed  out 
upon  occasion  some  arguments  against  this  prac- 

1  Pages  463,  464. 


130  JOHN  ROBINSON 

tice  [of  communion  in  private  prayer  with  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England]."^ 

It  was  the  force  of  personal  influence,  there- 
fore, on  the  part  of  the  Separatist  leaders  in  Am- 
sterdam, supplemented  by  a  temper  w^hich  was 
strongly  given  to  all  that  would  make  for  peace, 
which  brought  Robinson  to  make  this  change. 
He  was  never  heartily  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  new  position,  he  tells  us;  and  he  made  the 
mistake  of  yielding  for  the  sake  of  w^hat  seemed 
the  deeper  harmony  of  the  Separatist  churches. 
It  is  a  noble  confession  of  error  which  he  makes 
in  the  later  treatise.  We  shall  have  occasion 
to  refer  to  this  again  when  we  study  his  individ- 
ual contribution  to  the  Separation  in  his  epoch- 
making  discussion  on  this  very  matter  of  religious 
communion.  At  this  point  we  see  him  sacri- 
ficing a  conviction  in  the  interests  of  peace.  That 
policy  always  fails.    We  shall  see  it  fail  with  him. 

^  "Of  Religious  Communion,"  Works,  3:  102. 


VI 
SETTLEMENT  IN  LEYDEN 


CHAPTER  VI 

SETTLEMENT   IN  LEY  DEN 

The  journey  from  Amsterdam  to  Leyden,  in 
the  glorious  spring  of  the  year,  was  neither  long 
nor  arduous.  The  indication  of  the  petition  to 
the  city  authorities  is  that  members  of  the  church 
had  already  settled  in  Leyden,  where  they  had 
made  the  arrangements  for  the  removal,  and 
where  they  would  be  ready  to  welcome  their 
comrades  upon  their  arrival.  This  was  the  nat- 
ural plan,  for  Robinson  in  every  instance  remained 
behind  until  the  last  of  his  congregation,  the 
feeblest  and  oldest,  were  ready  to  move. 

Dr.  Griffis,  in  his  book,  "The  Pilgrims  in 
Their  Three  Homes,"  has  given  a  pen  picture 
of  the  journey  between  the  cities: 

"We  can  imagine  the  little  flotilla  freighted 
with  household  goods  and  crowded  with  plainly 
and  soberly  dressed  English  people,  conspicuous 
among  whom  was  the  dignified  John  Robinson. 
In  clerical  garb,  and  wearing  a  cap  which  looked 
exactly  like  a  watermelon  cut  in  half,  with  per- 
haps a  little   band  of  lace  around   the  bottom, 

133 


134  JOHN  ROBINSON 

and  wearing  also  a  ruff  around  his  neck,  he  would 
be  easily  recognized.'^  ^ 

On  reaching  the  new  home,  Robinson  was 
face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  self-support  for 
his  people.  They  were  farmers,  and  therefore 
could  not  quickly  set  themselves  to  profitable 
employment.  At  the  same  time  they  had  prob- 
ably increased  their  difficulties  by  removing  to 
a  city  which  furnished  less  variety  in  occupation 
than  Amsterdam  had  afforded.  They  must  keep 
together  as  a  company,  which  would  have  been 
impossible  if  they  had  gone  outside  the  city  to 
engage  in  agriculture.  Thus  the  conditions  of 
their  life  were  hard.  But  there  is  little  complaint 
about  this  in  any  of  Robinson's  writings.  The 
church  seems  to  have  been  united  to  a  wonderful 
degree  in  its  purpose,  and  practical  wisdom  pre- 
vailed in  its  counsels.  As  Bradford  says,  they 
were  men  '^valewing  peace  and  their  spirituall 
comforte  above  any  other  riches  whatsoever. "  ^ 
And  their  thrift  and  happiness  enabled  them  fin- 
ally to  establish  themselves  in  Leyden  in  circum- 
stances of  tolerable  comfort. 

The  trades  to  which  the  people  set  their  hands 
were  those  connected  with  the  manufacture  of 

^  "The  Pilgrims  in  Their  Three  Homes,"  p.  85. 
■■*"0f  Plimoth  Plantation,"  pp.  23,  24. 


SETTLEMENT  IN  LEYDEN  135 

all  kinds  of  woven  goods.  The  preparation  of 
the  raw  material  and  the  manufacture  of  the  goods 
were  carried  on  in  small  factories,  or  more  often 
in  the  homes  of  the  toilers.  The  industrial  revo- 
lution and  the  growth  of  the  factory  had  not 
then  taken  place.  It  was  in  these  small  indus- 
tries connected  with  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
goods  that  the  people  gained  their  livelihood. 

-We  cannot  determine  accurately  the  part  of 
the  city  in  which  the  Scrooby  brethren  settled, 
but  it  probably  was  in  the  newer  and,  there- 
fore, cheaper  sections,  which  began  to  be  opened 
up  when  the  Great  Truce  between  the  Dutch 
patriots  and  their  enemies  gave  assurance  that 
for  at  least  twelve  years  there  would  be  a  cessa- 
tion in  the  horrors  of  war  through  wdiich  Leyden 
had  passed. 

The  peace  of  the  city  was  evident  not  only 
industrially,  but  religiously.  There  was  a  Pres- 
byterian church  in  the  city,  whose  membership 
was  made  up  of  English  and  Scotch  residents. 
This  was  established  about  the  time  that  the 
Separatists  reached  Leyden,  and  its  minister 
until  1616  was  Rev.  Robert  Durie.  They  were 
granted  a  place  of  worship  by  the  authorities. 

It  was  generally  supposed  at  one  time  that 
the    Scrooby  brethren   were   also   given    a  place 


136  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  worship  in  Ley  den  by  the  magistrates.  This 
rested  upon  references  in  Winslow's  ''Brief  Narra- 
tion'' and  Prince's  '  'Annals"  (1736).  The  matter 
was  sifted  thoroughly  by  George  Sumner,^  and  the 
unreliability  of  the  witnesses  to  any  such  thing 
has  been  established.  The  influence  of  King  James 
was  very  strong  in  Holland.  Reference  will  be 
made  later  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Dutch 
authorities  sought  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the 
English  king  in  the  matter  of  the  arrest  of  \\i\- 
liam  Brewster.  The  records  of  the  city  during 
the  years  of  Robinson's  residence  there  are  com- 
plete, and  there  is  no  notice  of  any  petition  for 
a  place  of  worship  from  the  church,  although 
the  petition  to  immigrate  is  given.  Indeed, 
there  seems  to  have  been  quite  another  plan  in 
Robinson's  mind.  This  was  to  obtain  a  place 
large  enough  to  serve  both  as  his  own  residence 
and  as  a  meeting  place  for  his  church.  This  plan 
he  was  evidently  unable  to  carry  out  at  once 
on  his  arrival  in  Ley  den.  We  have  no  informa- 
tion as  to  w^here  he  lived  before  he  entered  the 
large  house,  the  purchase  of  which  is  recorded 
in  the  f ollow^ing  deed  : 
We,  PIETER  ARENTSZOON  DEYMAN  and 

^  See  Mass.  Kist.  Soc.  Coll.,  Series  3,  Vol.  9,  pp.  42-74,  "Memoirs  of  the 
Filgrims  in  Leyden, "  and  Proceedings,  Vol.  18,  p.  210. 


SITE  OF  JOHN    ROBINSON'S   HOUSE.   LEVDEN 
(t)cciipied  by  house  with  arched  door.) 


SETTLEMENT  IN  LEV  DEN  137 

AMELI8  \'A\  HOGEA'EEN,  Schepens  [mag- 
istrates] in  Levdcn,  make  known  that  before  us 
came  JOHAN  DE  LALAING,  declaring,  for  him- 
self and  his  heirs,  that  he  had  sold,  and  by  these 
presents  does  sell,  to  JAN  RORINSZOOX,  Min- 
ister of  GOD'S  Word  of  the  English  Congrega- 
tion in  this  city,  WILLEM  JEPSON,  HENRY 
WOOD  and  RAYNULPH  TICKENS,  who  has 
married  JANE  WHITE —jointly  and  each  for 
himself  an  equal  fourth  part  —  a  house  and  ground, 
with  a  garden  situated  on  the  west  side  thereof, 
standing  and  being  in  this  city  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Pieter's  Kerckhoff  near  the  Belfry;  for- 
merly called  the  Groene  Port." 

This  is  the  first  paragraph  of  the  dee(V  which 
was  witnessed  and  sealed  on  May  5,  1611.  There 
are  two  items  especially  to  be  noticed  here.  Rob- 
inson's name  is  associated  with  those  of  three 
members  of  his  congregation  in  the  enterprise. 
He  seems  to  be  the  leader  in  the  undertaking,  as 
his  name  comes  first.  The  entire  project  was 
undoubtedly  carried  through  in  the  interests  of 
the  whole  congregation,  and  formed  one  item  in 
that  large  scheme  for  the  permanence  and  wel- 
fare of  his  people  which  Robinson  always  kept 
in  view.  The  other  noteworthy  incident  is  the 
mention  of  the  fact  in  connection  with  the  name 

^  The  whole  is  printed  in  Arber,  '  Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  pp. 
156-157. 


138  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  Thickens  or  Tickens  that  he  had  married  Jane 
White.  What  reason  can  there  be  for  this?  The 
names  of  other  wives  are  not  given  in  the  deed. 
Thickens  was  Robinson's  brother-in-law,  having 
married  Jane  White,  sister  to  Mrs.  Robinson, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Bridget  White.  The 
conjecture  has  been  made  that  Jane  White's 
name  is  mentioned  in  this  deed  for  the  reason 
that  her  husband's  share  of  the  purchase  money 
was  understood  to  come  from  her.  If  this  is  so  it 
would  imply  that  Robinson's  wife  may  also  have 
been  the  possessor  of  money  in  her  own  right. 
The  whole  matter,  however,  is  merely  speculation. 
The  price  of  this  property  was  eight  thousand 
guilders,  of  which  two  thousand  were  paid  down 
and  the  promise  given  that  five  hundred  should 
be  paid  yearly,  beginning  in  May,  1612,  until 
the  entire  balance  should  be  liquidated.  This 
total  sum  was  equal  to  about  sixteen  thousand 
dollars  of  our  present  American  money.  The 
first  payment,  therefore,  was  about  four  thousand 
dollars,  of  which  John  Robinson's  equal  share 
was  one  thousand  dollars.  The  location  of  this 
property  was  most  advantageous.  It  was  over 
against  the  great  Peter's  Church,  near  the  mili- 
tary headquarters  of  the  city,  and  very  close  to 
the  University.      At  the  rear  was  the  chapel  of 


SETT  LEM  EXT  IX  LEY  DEN  139 

the  \'eilo(l  Nuns'  Cloister,  where  the  congre.c^at.ion 
of  Rev.  Robert  Durie  met  for  worship,  and  on 
the  upper  floor  of  which  the  library  of  the  great 
University  was  then  placed.  Also  the  land  in 
the  rear  of  the  house  was  well  adapted  to  the 
arrangement  of  a  "hof, "  where  small  houses 
are  built  about  a  central  court  and  the  little  com- 
munity composed  of  their  inhabitants  is  screened 
from  public  view.  With  Robinson,  in  the  enter- 
prise, was  associated  a  carpenter,  William  Jep- 
son,  and  the  erection  of  twenty-one  small  houses 
about  the  court  was  begun.  Doubtless  in  these 
lived  Separatist  families  w^hich  were  in  greater 
need  of  help  than  others.  But,  in  spite  of  this 
paternal  arrangement,  we  must  not  think  of 
Robinson  as  here  setting  up  any  of  those  commu- 
nistic schemes  which  men  like  the  Anabaptists, 
and  others  who  laid  great  emphasis  upon  the  New 
Testament  model  of  the  true  Church,  have  erected 
from  time  to  time  with  such  disaster  to  their 
cause.  Robinson's  writings  are  free  from  any 
hint  at  such  a  theory.  The  Separatists  were  a 
brotherhood,  bound  by  their  covenant  and  by 
the  hardness  of  their  experience,  to  help  one 
another.  But  their  pastor  was  a  far-sighted 
and  well-balanced  man,  who  was  not  led  into 
excess  of  literalness   in   application,    however   he 


140  JOHN  ROBINSON 

valued  the  New  Testament  model.  In  fact,  his 
interpretation  of  the  New  Testament  model  was 
the  true  one.  For  "the  so-called  communism 
of  primitive  Christianity  was  simply  the  glad,  free, 
domestic  relationship  of  generous  aid  and  serv- 
ice, such  as  any  modern  Christian  congregation 
might  legitimately  strive  to  imitate.  It  did  not 
abolish  distinctions  of  rich  and  poor,  still  less 
did  it  enter  the  sphere  of  productive  industry. 
Its  economics  were  those  of  a  loving  family.'" -^ 
This  was  the  principle  which  Robinson  sought 
to  embody  in  his  practical  enterprise  in  Bell  Alley. 
It  was,  like  his  controversies,  judicious,  clear- 
sighted and  fraternal.  The  pastor  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  was  a  wise  organizer. 

And  now,  that  we  may  get  a  clear  picture  of 
the  Leyclen  church  in  its  permanent  home  in 
Bell  Alley,  let  us  listen  to  the  quaint,  sincere 
description  of  one  of  its  strongest  and  most  de- 
voted members,  which  is  here  reproduced  in  its 
original  spelling: 

Being  thus  setled  (after  many  difficulties) 
they  continued  many  years  in  a  comfortable 
condition,  injoying  much  sweete  &  delightefull 
societie  &  spirituall  comforte  togeather  in  ye 
wayes  of  God,  under  ye  able  ministrie,  and  pru- 
dente    governmente    of    M^.    John    Robinson,    & 

^  F.  G.  Peabody,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question,"  1900,  p.  24 


SETTLEMEXT  IX  LEYDEX  111 

Mr.  ^^'i^ianl  l^rcwstor,  wlio  was  an  assistante 
unto  him  in  yp  ])lacc  of  an  Elder,  unto  which 
he  was  now  called  k  chosen  by  the  church.  So 
as  they  grow  in  knowlcdf>;e  k  other  gifts  k  graces 
of  ye  spirite  of  God,  k  lived  togeather  in  peace 
&  love,  and  holines;  and  many  came  unto  them 
from  diverse  parts  of  England,  so  as  they  grew 
a  great  congregation.  And  if  at  any  time  any 
differences  arose,  or  offences  broak  out  (as  it 
cannot  be,  but  some  time  ther  will,  even  amongst 
ye  best  of  men)  they  were  ever  so  mete  with, 
and  nipt  in  ye  head  betims,  or  otherwise  so  well 
composed,  as  still  love,  peace,  and  conununion 
was  continued;  or  els  ye  church  ])urged  of  those 
that  were  incurable  k  incorrigible,  when,  after 
much  patience  used,  no  other  means  would  serve, 
wdiich  seldom  came  to  pass.  Yea  such  w^as 
ye  mutuall  love,  k  reciprocall  respecte  that  this 
worthy  man  had  to  his  flocke,  and  his  flocke  to 
him,  that  it  might  be  said  of  them  as  it  once  was 
of  yt  famouse  Emperour  Marcus  Aurelious,  and 
ye  people  of  Rome,  that  it  was  hard  to  judge 
whoa  ther  he  delighted  more  in  haveing  shuch  a 
people,  or  they  in  haveing  such  a  pastor.  His 
love  was  greate  towards  them,  and  his  care  was 
all  ways  bente  for  their  best  good,  both  for  soule 
and  body;  for  besides  his  singuler  abilities  in 
devine  things  (wherein  he  excelled),  he  was  also 
very  able  to  give  directions  in  civill  affaires,  and 
to  foresee  dangers  k  inconveniences:  by  w*^^ 
means  he  was  very  helpfull  to  their  outward  estats 


142  JOHN  ROBINSON 

&  so  was  every  way  as  a  commone  father  unto 
them.  And  none  did  more  offend  him  then  those 
that  were  close  and  cleaving  to  themselves,  and 
retired  from  ye  commoe  good;  as  also  such  as 
w^ould  be  stiffe  &  riged  in  matters  of  outward 
order,  and  invey  against  ye  evills  of  others,  and 
yet  be  remisse  in  them  selves,  and  not  so  carefull 
to  express  a  vertuous  conversation.  They  in 
like  maner  had  ever  a  reverente  regard  unto 
him,  &  had  him  in  precious  estimation,  as  his 
worth  &  wisdom  did  deserve;  and  though  they 
esteemed  him  highly  whilst  he  lived  &  laboured 
amongst  them.,  yet  much  more  after  his  death, 
when  they  came  to  feele  ye  w^ante  of  his  help,  and 
saw  (by  woefull  experience)  what  a  treasure 
they  had  lost,  to  ye  greefe  of  their  harts,  and 
wounding  of  their  sowls;  yea  such  a  loss  as  they 
saw  could  not  be  repaired;  for  it  was  as  hard 
for  them  to  find  such  another  leader  and  feeder 
in  all  respects,  as  for  ye  Taborits  to  find  another 
Ziska.  And  though  they  did  not  call  themselves 
orphans,  as  the  other  did,  after  his  death,  yet 
they  had  cause  as  much  to  lamente,  in  another 
regard,  their  present  condition,  and  after  usage. 
But  to  returne;  I  know  not  but  it  may  be  spoken 
of  ye  honour  of  God,  &  without  prejudice  to  any, 
that  such  was  ye  true  pietie,  ye  humble  zeale, 
&  fervent  love,  of  this  people  (whilst  they  thus 
lived  together)  towards  God  and  his  waies,  and 
ye  single  hartednes  &  sinceir  affection  one  to- 
wards another,  that  they  came  as  near  ye  prim- 
ative  patterne  of  ye  first  churches,  as  any  other 


SETTLEMENT  IX  LEYDEN  143 

church  of  these  later  times  have  done,  according 
to  their  ranke  &  quahtie.  ^ 

After  the  house  in  Bell  Alley  had  been  purchased, 
Robinson  lived  there  with  his  growing  family  of 
children.  We  have  no  satisfactory  data  from 
which  we  can  determine  either  the  date  of  Rob- 
inson's marriage  or  the  ages  of  his  children.  Mrs. 
Robinson's  maiden  name  was  Bridget  White. 
Her  sister  Jane  married  Randall  Thickens.  Dr. 
Henry  M.  Dexter  conjectures-  that  another  sister 
of  Mrs.  Robinson,  Frances  White,  married  Francis 
Jessop  in  Worksop,  not  far  from  Gainsborough, 
January  24,  1605.  There  is  nothing  certain  about 
this,  however. 

We  are  a  little  clearer  concerning  the  names 
and  number  of  Robinson's  children.  We  have 
a  tax  list  of  the  year  1622  which  shows  us  that 
Robinson's  family  was  the  only  one  occupying 
the  house  itself.     The  list  is  as  follows: 

John  Robinson,  preacher;  Bridget  Robinson, 
his  wife;  their  children,  John,  Bridget,  Isaac, 
Mercy,  Fear,  James;  Mary  Hardy,  a  servant 
maid."  ^ 

The    existence    of     the    university    must    have 

•  Bradford,  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,  "  pp.  24-2G. 

*  "Congregationalism  as  Seen, "  p.  378. 

^  GriflBs,  "Pilgrims  in  their  Three  Homes,"  p.  240. 


144  JOHN  ROBINSON 

been  one  of  the  strong  attractions  of  Leyden  for 
Robinson.  And  yet,  he  was  not  admitted  to 
its  privileges  for  some  time  after  his  arrival  in 
the  city.  This  is  in  marked  contrast  with  the 
case  of  Rev.  Robert  Durie,  the  minister  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  that  worshiped  in  the  chapel 
close  by  the  Robinson  house.  On  April  27,  1610, 
Durie  was  matriculated,  and  is  described  as  Min- 
ister of  the  English  Church.  But  it  was  not  until 
September  5,  1615,  that  Robinson  was  admitted 
as  a  student  of  theology,  and  in  the  records  of 
the  university  he  is  described  simply  as  ''an 
Englishman."  This  serves  to  show  still  more 
plainly  that  the  Separatists  never  received  offi- 
cial recognition  as  a  church  by  the  Dutch.  The 
fear  of  giving  "offence  to  ye  state  of  England" 
was  sufficient  to  prevent  any  public  favor.  Mem- 
bership in  the  university  brought  with  it  privi- 
leges of  a  literary  and  social  nature  which  would 
be  of  value  to  Robinson.  It  also  freed  him  from 
the  duty  of  acting  on  patrol  in  time  of  war,  and 
gave  him  the  privilege  of  brewing  a  certain  amount 
of  beer  without  paying  a  tax.  But  the  greatest 
privilege  was  the  freedom  which  it  gave  him  from 
liability  to  arrest  by  any  except  the  officers  of 
the  university.  This  never  served  him  any  in 
practical  life,  but  it  might  have  done  so  had  any 


SETTLEMENT  IN  LEYDEN  145 

of  his  books  incurred   the  severe  displeasure  of 
King  James. 

Meantime  the  church  affairs  were  prospering 
and  peace  prevailed  in  the  councils  of  the  congre- 
gation. And  the  church  came  very  soon  to  rep- 
resent a  definite  phase  of  thought  and  practice 
which  was  the  result  of  its  pastor's  leadership. 
It  still  bore  close  relationships  with  Amsterdam; 
it  worked  out  and  pursued  a  policy  of  its  own. 
In  the  succeeding  chapters  we  shall  study  these 
elements  in  the  Leyden  life  in  order  to  determine 
John  Robinson's  real  place  in  the  history  of  the 
Congregational  churches. 


VII 
THE   CHAMPION  OF  CALVINISM 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    CHAMPION   OF    CALVINISM 

We  have  followed  the  story  of  Robinson's  life 
through  the  storm  and  stress  of  his  decision  for 
the  Separation;  we  have  seen  him  rise  to  a  posi- 
tion of  leadership  in  the  suffering  congregation 
gathered  about  Scrooby;  we  have  witnessed  his 
foresight  in  Amsterdam  after  he  had  become  the 
head  of  the  exiled  church;  we  have  discovered 
the  signs  of  his  strong  personal  command  of  the 
situation  of  the  growing  church  in  Ley  den.  Back 
of  all  this  expanding  influence  lay  a  theological 
conviction,  brought  into  definite  system  by  for- 
mal statement.  Robinson  defined  and  defended  a 
system  of  church  polity.  He  was  also  the  cham- 
pion of  a  system  of  theology.  In  this  chapter 
it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  any  detailed 
examination  of  Robinson's  theological  positions. 
The  main  question  that  interests  us  is,  rather. 
Do  the  purely  theological  teachings  of  Robinson 
display  any  signs  of  change  ? 

Robinson  stood  ready  to  accept  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  with  that 

149 


150  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Calvinistic  interpretation  which  they  will  bear 
and  which  he  gave  to  them.  There  are  sources, 
however,  from  which  we  can  draw  much  more 
fully  in  arriving  at  an  adequate  conception  of  his 
w^hole  system  of  theology. 

The  first  of  these  is  his  treatise,  ^^Of  Religious 
Communion,''  the  larger  part  of  which  is  con- 
cerned with  an  answer  to  two  books  by  Thomas 
Helwisse.  One  of  these  books,  ''A  Declaration 
of  the  Faith  of  the  English  People  remaining  at 
Amsterdam,"  sets  forth  the  creed  of  the  Baptist 
church  formed  by  John  Smyth  there,  of  which 
Helwisse  was  chosen  pastor  after  Smyth's  death 
in  1609.  This  '^ Declaration"  was  published  in 
1611.     Robinson's  reply  appeared  in  1614. 

The  second  source  is  a  reply  to  a  book  by  John 
Murton,  "A  Description  of  what  God  hath  pre- 
destinated concerning  Man,"  published  in  1620. 
Murton  here  attacks  the  Calvinistic  theology  of 
the  creed  sanctioned  by  the  Synod  of  Dort,  and 
specifically  attempts  to  overthrow  Robinson's  posi- 
tion in  relation  to  baptism. 

Robinson  answered  this  with  '^A  Defence  of 
the  Doctrine  propounded  by  the  Synod  at  Dort," 
published  in  1624.  We  must  remember  that  the 
fact  of  Robinson's  championship  of  the  truth 
embodied   in  this    particular    creed    is   not   nee- 


THE  CIIAMPinX  OF  CALVIXISM  151 

essarily  due  to  his  belief  that  this  was  the  one 
perfect  and  unalterable  expression  of  the  last 
word  to  be  said  upon  Christian  doctrine.  This 
is  a  controversy  and  he  is  defending  the  specific 
cause  attacked  by  his  opponents,  which,  in  this 
case,  was  the  creed  of  the  Synod  of  Dort. 

Between  these  two  sources  there  lies  a  period 
of  ten  years,  during  the  early  part  of  which  Rob- 
inson passed  through  certain  radical  changes  of 
opinion  regarding  the  practice  of  the  Christian 
life.  In  theology,  however,  there  is  no  radical 
change.  The  main  positions  urged  against  Hel- 
wisse  in  1614  are  those  maintained  against  Murton 
in  1624. 

Let  us  look  at  these  very  briefly.  It  is  a  strug- 
gle between  the  ideas  of  God's  absolute  sover- 
eignty and  the  complete  freedom  of  the  will, 
the  conflict  between  high  Calvinism  and  protest- 
ing Arminianism.  It  is  not  a  struggle  involving 
mere  opinions  in  speculative  theology;  it  is  a 
war  between  religious  dogmas  which  are  insepa- 
rably linked  with  political  policies  and  the  destiny 
of  the  state.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  bear 
in  mind  the  political  as  well  as  the  religious  sit- 
uation. 

Beginning  at  the  central  point  of  the  theology, 
the  sovereignty  of   God,  let  us    follow  Robinson 


152  JOHN  ROBINSON 

in  a  somewhat  hasty  fashion,  in  order  that  we 
may  see  not  only  what  he  beUeved,  but  the  rea- 
sons upon  which  he  seemed  to  himself  warranted 
in  resting  his  faith. 

The  matter  of  God's  decrees  touching  sin  comes 
up  for  immediate  treatment. 

^'God  hath  not  only  foreseen  and  determined 
the  issues  and  events  of  His  works,  but  hath  also 
decreed  and  purposed  the  works  themselves  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world.''  ^ 

''The  condemnation  of  wicked  men  by  God, 
for  sin  by  their  free  will  to  be  wrought,  was  pur- 
posed by  God  before  the  world."  ^ 

''God's  full  foreknowledge  of  the  course  of 
human  history  makes  necessary  his  full  deter- 
mination of  all  that  which  he  foresees."  ^ 

And  yet  God  is  not  the  author  of  human  sin, 

"neither  indeed  is  it  sensible  to  say  that  God 
determined  what  the  will  of  others  would  do." 

God  does  not  command  or  work  evil ;  he  is 

"the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  whole  world, 
and  of  all  persons  and  actions  therein,  how  sin- 
ful soever,  using  and  ordering  the  covetousness 
of  Judas,  the  envy  of  the  priests,  and  injustice  of 
Pilate,  to  the  event  of  Christ's  death,  [actions] 
in  regard  of  them  most  wicked,  but  of  God,  most 
gracious,  and  of  us,  most  profitable." 

1  "Of  Religious  Communion,"  3:  238. 

2  "Defence,"  1:279,  281. 

^  "Of  Religious  Communion,"  3:  239. 


THE  CHAMPION  OF  CALVIMSM  153 

The  first  ])oiiit  to  bo  o})servo(l  hero  is  that  Rob- 
inson squarely  faces  the  two  facts  of  God's  sov- 
ereignty and  man's  freedom.  He  asserts  both 
and  j)roposes  the  (hlomma  that  results. 

''If  any  (lonmiul  how  tliis  can  bo,  that  God, 
who  forbiddeth  and  hateth  sin,  yet  should  so 
order  persons  and  things  by  his  providence,  and 
so  from  eternity  purpose  to  order  them,  as  that 
the  same  cannot  be,  I  answer,  by  free  acknowl- 
edgment that  the  manner  of  God's  working 
herein  is  to  me  and  to  all  men  inconceivable."  ^ 

And  yet  Robinson  realized  that  some  effort 
nmst  be  made  by  the  reason  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion. This  effort  he  made  in  advancing  tw^o 
subtle  "distinctions"  to  clear  up  the  matter. 
The  first  is  a  difference  between  necessity  and 
compulsion.  Every  human  action  is  very  com- 
plex; there  are  many  forces  at  work  whenever 
a  choice  is  made.  Therefore  the  choice  may  be 
viewed  from  many  sides.  If  a  man  were  struck 
so  forcibly  by  a  blow  from  outside  that  he  abso- 
lutely could  not  avoid  falling,  it  would  be  a  case 
of  compulsion.  God  never  compels  a  soul  in 
this  way.  But  when  we  take  such  an  act  as  the 
meeting  of  Ahab  and  Elijah  (I  Kings  21:18),  we 
see  how  an  action  may  be  viewed  in  many  ways. 

'  "Defence.'"  1:274.  275. 


154  JOHN  ROBINSON 

To  Ahab  this  was  a  chance  meeting;  to  Elijah 
it  was  the  obedience  of  a  divine  command;  it 
was  an  illustration  of  necessity  but  not  of  com- 
pulsion. Since  God's  will  was  carried  out  in  it, 
it  was  a  necessar}^  action.^  The  second  subtle 
distinction  lies  in  the  fact  that  God  may  be  "  the 
author  of  the  action  or  fact,  but  not  of  the 
sin  of  the  fact."  This  becomes  clearer  when  w^e 
note  Robinson's  conception  of  sin,  which  is  not 
^'a  thought,  word,  or  deed  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God,''  (as  his  antagonists  held),  but  sin 
consists  ^'in  the  contrariety  which  the  same  deed 
or  motion  hath  in  it  to  the  law  of  God."  Sin 
is  ''only  the  absence  and  want  of  that  conform- 
ity and  agreeableness,  which  ought  to  be  in 
the  thought,  word  or  work  of  the  reasonable 
creature  to  the  law  of  God."  Every  action, 
therefore,  is  to  be  regarded  intrinsically  as  an 
action,  and  then  in  regard  to  its  moral  quality. 
If  a  murder  were  committed,  the  deed  must  be 
considered  both  as  a  specific  act  and  then  as  to 
its  moral  content ;  as,  for  example,  it  is  clear  that 
the  execution  of  a  condemned  criminal  by  the 
magistrate  and  the  kihing  of  Amasa  by  Joab 
is,  in  the  former  case,  a  good  action,  and  in  the 
second  case  a  bad  action.     So,  God  is  the  author 

1  "Defence,"  1:291. 


THE  CHAMPION  OF  CALVIXISM  155 

of  the  intrinsic  action,  hut  not  of  the  moral  ([ual- 
ity,  or  the  perversion  of  the  right  use  of  the  action 
in  which  the  sin  consists. 

Wc  have  brought  forward  this  specific  instance 
of  Robinson's  argument,  simply  that  the  general 
tenor  of  a  considerable  body  of  his  reasoning 
may  be  seen.  His  weakest  point  is  always  in  his 
attempt  to  justify  himself  in  places  where  he  rec- 
ognizes the  difiiculties  and  contradictions  of  his 
position.  He  is  a  thoroughgoing  Calvinist,  and 
the  fact  that  he  could  remain  even  partially  sat- 
isfied with  his  ''subtle  distinctions''  is  striking. 
To  Robinson's  opponents  this  was  "merely  a 
fabulous  riddle"  and  ''marvellous  sophistica- 
tion." But  he  was  humble  and  earnest  in  his 
effort  to  handle  "those  high  mysteries"  of  the 
divine  sovereignty  and  human  freedom.  His 
arguments  were  not  new,  neither  were  they  con- 
vincing, and  the  real  man  is  far  less  revealed  in 
them  than  in  his  strong  assertion  of  both  terms 
of  the  controversy,  standing  with  a  humble  heart 
acknowledging  that  the  mystery  was  inexplicable. 

On  only  one  other  point  is  it  necessary  to  dwell 
at  any  length.  This  is  the  matter  of  the  Atone- 
ment. ]\Ian  is  in  a  state  of  sin  which  is  the  result 
of  the  transgression  of  Adam.  This  act  came 
about  bv  Adam's  free  choice,  God  having  decreed, 


156  JOHN  ROBINSON 

not  the  choice  itself,  but  the  conditions  under 
which  the  choice  was  made.  The  sin  followed, 
but  not  "  as  an  effect  upon  a  cause  working  it  — 
God  forbid !  —  but  as  a  consequent  upon  an  ante- 
cedent; or  as  an  event  necessarily  following  upon 
a  most  holy,  wise,  and  powerful  providence,  so 
ordering  and  disposing,  that  the  same  should 
so  come  to  pass  infallibly,  though  performed  by 
Adam's  free,  and  freely-working  will.''-^  All 
Adam's  posterity  are  born  with  a  sinful  dis- 
position for  which  they  are  responsible,  and  to 
change  which  a  gift  of  supernatural  grace  is 
necessary.  Atonement  for  this  sin  is  made 
possible  by  the  grace  of  God  in  the  work  of 
Christ.  But  the  redemption  is  not  universal. 
Christ's  death  is  sufficient  for  all,  since  it  was 
the  death  of  him  who  was  God;  but  it  has  not 
been  made  efficient  for  all.  Christ  died  "effect- 
ually" for  ''them  only  that  are  saved."  Christ 
did  not  die  for  all;  but  all  for  whom  Christ  died 
shall  be  saved.  ^ 

This  is  carrying  the  doctrine  of  election  and  a 
limited  atonement  to  the  extreme.  Robinson 
does  not  hesitate  to  do  this.  He  proposes  no 
theory  of  the  atonement;  but  he  plainly  limits 
it  to  the  elect. 

i  "Defence,"  1:  274.  ^  i^jj^  l-  333. 


THE    CIIAMriON  OF  CALVIXIS.U  ].- 

We  will  not  tako  up  more  points  in  this  survey 
of  Robinson's  tlicolo<z;ic'al  writing.  The  cham- 
pion of  Calvinism  is  radical  and  thoroughgoing, 
and  there  is  no  sign  of  mellowing  in  the  austerity 
of  his  convictions  during  these  ten  years  from 
1614  to  1624.  The  work  which  he  did  as  a  writer 
for  the  cause  was  supplemented  by  what  he  did  in 
public  debate.  This  brings  up  the  matter  of  the 
so-called  ''Dispute  with  Episcopius.''  The  his- 
torical situation  was  briefly  as  follows: 

The  feature  that  (hstinguishes  the  German  from 
the  Dutch  churches  is  the  fact  that  the  former 
are  Lutheran  and  the  latter  Calvinistic.  The 
Calvinistic  theology,  therefore,  obtained  suprem- 
acy in  the  Dutch  church  and  was  taught  in  the 
schools.  The  first  radical  modification  of  strict 
Calvinistic  theology  by  an  official  teacher  was  by 
James  Arminius,  professor  of  theology  at  Ley- 
den,  who  died  in  October,  1609.  Between  him- 
self and  his  colleague  Gomarus  the  controversy 
concerning  predestination  was  waged  bitterly  so 
long  as  Arminius  lived.  The  closing  months  of 
this  personal  contention  marked  the  settlement 
of  John  Robinson  and  his  company  in  Leyden.^ 
After    an    interim    of   two    years,   Arminius    was 

'  Criffis,  "The  Pilgrims  in  Their  Three  Homes,"  p.  140,  says  that  Ar- 
minius "diet!  (Jctober  19,  1(509,  while  the  PilRrims  were  in  Amsterdam." 
The  Scrooby  brethren  were  settled  in  Leyden  before  that  date. 


158  JOHN  ROBINSON 

succeeded  in  the  chair  of  theology  in  Leyden  by 
Episcopius,  who  held  that  chair  from  1611  until 
after  the  decree  of  the  Synod  of  Dort  banished 
him  in  1618.  During  this  time  controversy  in 
the  University  grew  more  intense.  Robinson's 
part  in  it  is  thus  reported  by  Bradford : 

''In  these  times  allso  were  ye  great  troubls 
raised  by  ye  Arminians,  who,  as  they  greatly  mol- 
lested  ye  whole  state,  so  this  citie  in  particuler, 
in  which  was  ye  cheefe  universitie ;  so  as  ther  were 
dayly  &  hote  disputs  in  ye  schooles  ther  aboute; 
and  as  ye  studients  &  other  lerned  were  devided  in 
their  oppinions  hearin,  so  were  ye  2.  proffessors  or 
devinitie  readers  them  selves;  the  one  daly  teaching 
for  it,  ye  other  against  it.  Which  grew  to  that  pass, 
that  few  of  the  discipls  of  ye  one  would  hear  ye 
other  teach.  But  Mr .  Robinson,  though  he  taught 
thrise  a  weeke  him  selfe,  &  write  sundrie  books, 
besids  his  manyfould  pains  otherwise,  yet  he  went 
constantly  to  hear  ther  readings,  and  heard  ye 
one  as  well  as  ye  other;  by  which  means  he  was 
so  well  grounded  in  ye  controversie,  and  saw  ye 
force  of  all  their  arguments,  and  knew  ye  shifts 
of  ye  adversarie,  and  being  him  selfe  very  able, 
none  was  fitter  to  buckle  with  them  then  him  selfe, 
as  appered  by  sundrie  disputs;  so  as  he  begane 
to  be  terrible  to  ye  Arminians;  which  made  Episco- 
pius (ye  Arminian  professor)  to  put  forth  his  best 
stringth,  and  set  forth  sundrie  Theses,  which  by 
publick  dispute  he  would  defend  against  all  men. 


THE  CHAMPION  OF  CALVINISM  159 

Now  Poliander  ye  other  proffessor,  and  ye  chcefe 
preachers  of  ye  eitie,  desired  Mr.  Robinson  to  dis- 
pute against  him;  but  he  was  loath,  being  a 
stranger;  yet  the  other  did  importune  him,  and 
tould  him  yt  such  was  ye  abilitie  and  nimblnes 
of  ye  adversarie,  that  ye  truth  would  suffer  if  he 
did  not  help  them.  So  as  he  condescended,  & 
prepared  him  selfe  against  the  time;  and  when  ye 
day  came,  the  Lord  did  so  help  him  to  defend  ye 
truth  &  foyle  this  adversarie,  as  he  put  him  to  an 
apparent  nonplus,  in  this  great  &  publike  audience. 
And  ye  like  he  did  a  2.  or  3.  time,  upon  such  like 
occasions.  The  which  as  it  caused  many  to  praise 
God  yt  the  trueth  had  so  famous  victory,  so  it  pro- 
cured him  much  honour  &  respecte  from  those 
lerned  men  &  others  which  loved  ye  trueth.' '  ^ 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  common  acceptance 
of  this  report  concerning  the  large  significance  of 
John  Robinson's  debate  with  his  Arminian  antag- 
onist. Governor  Winslow  inserts  the  same  gen- 
eral statement  into  his  ''Hypocrisie  Unmasked." 
The  details  are  not  all  clear;  but  we  have  no 
reason  for  distrusting  Bradford's  statement. 

Rev.  Alexander  Gordon,  who  contributes  the 
article  on  Robinson  to  ''The  Dictionary  of  Na- 
tional Biography,"^  thinks  that  there  may  be 
some  basis  in  fact  behind  these  reports,  but  main- 

'  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation."  pp.  27,  28. 
-  Vol.  .\lix,  pp.  IS  ff. 


160  JOHN  ROBINSON 

tains  that  it  is  not  probable  either  that  the  dispute 
was  held  in  the  University  or  that  it  was  under- 
taken at  the  request  of  Polyander  and  the  city 
ministers.  In  proof  he  cites  the  silence  of  the 
records  of  the  university  on  the  matter,  and  the 
fact  that,  at  this  time,  the  dominant  party  in 
Ley  den  was  the  Arminian. 

\Ve  are  not  warranted  in  the  least,  even  if  we 
accept  Bradford  very  literally,  in  imagining  that 
this  disputation  was  an  academic  function  of  suf- 
ficient moment  to  cause  it  to  be  recorded  in  the 
list  of  events  in  the  university.  The  silence  of 
the  records  has  no  special  bearing  in  the  case.  We 
know  that  Robinson  was  an  attendant  at  lectures 
in  the  university,  and,  at  a  time  of  intense  excite- 
ment over  a  question  of  theology  and  politics, 
such  as  the  Arminian  question  then  was,  it  is 
wholly  within  the  bounds  of  reason  to  suppose 
that  Robinson  went  to  the  public  discussions  which 
would  be  held  in  the  university  as  a  champion  of 
the  Calvinistic  side. 

There  is  another  point  which  has  not  been  con- 
sidered fully  in  regard  to  its  bearing  upon  the 
probable  share  of  Robinson  in  the  discussion  of 
the  burning  question  in  the  university.  Why  did 
Robinson  write  and  pubhsh  the  ''Defence  of  the 
Doctrine  propounded  by  the  Synod  at    Dort"? 


THE  CHAMPION  OF  CALVIXISM  iGl 

There  was  no  special  demand  for  tlie  composition 
or  publication  of  such  a  work  from  his  own  con- 
gregation. Robinson's  writing  in  defence  of  the 
Separation  as  a  whole,  and  his  treatment  of  devel- 
oping phases  of  practice  in  his  own  church  were 
made  necessary  by  the  specific  needs  of  his  own 
congregation.  Such  a  work  as  the  ''Defence," 
however,  was  not  carried  through  merely  in  the 
interests  of  his  own  peo])le.  Robinson  was  abun- 
dantly able  to  instruct  them  in  doctrine  by  his 
sermons  and  lectures,  which  undoubtedly  were 
composed  very  largely  of  dogmatic  material.  The 
''Defence"  presupposes  a  far  wider  circle  of  read- 
ers than  Separatists  in  Leyden  and  Amsterdam.  It 
is  most  reasonable  to  believe  that  he  was  encour- 
aged in  its  preparation  and  publication  by  the 
leaders  of  the  contest  with';'Arminian  teachings, 
who,  Bradford  says,  invited|_Robinson  to  enter 
the  lists  of  oral  debate. 

Hence,  RobinsonJDore^'a  part,  dignified  and  con- 
spicuous, in  the  oraKand  written  defence  of  Cal- 
vinistic  doctrine  in  ^Leyden.  It  was  as  earnest 
as  his  defence  of  .the  Separation,  altliough  it  exhib- 
its far  less  flexibility  than  we  fine  Pin  his  treatment 
of  the  theory  and  practice  of  a  free  church. 


VIII 
THE   GREAT  CONTROVERSY  CONCERN- 
ING FELLOWSHIP 


CHAPTER  VTII 

THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  CONCERNING  FELLOWSHIP 

From  a  survey  of  the  stern,  inflexible,  dogmatic 
teaching  of  Robinson  it  is  a  pleasure  to  turn  to  a 
study  of  the  gracious  movement  of  his  theory  and 
practice  in  relation  to  Christian  fellowship.  The 
story  is  interesting  from  the  outset.  It  covers 
the  whole  period  of  his  Leyden  pastorate.  For 
the  sake  of  unity  it  will  be  brought  together  entire 
in  this  chapter.  It  is  in  this  great  controversy 
that  Robinson  made  a  unique  contribution  to  the 
history  of  the  Congregational  churches. 

Let  us  review  for  a  moment  the  position  which 
he  had  taken  as  the  result  of  personal  pressure 
brought  to  bear  upon  him  in  Amsterdam.  He 
went  to  the  limits  of  complete  separation  from 
the  members  of  the  Church  of  England.  He  did 
not  deny  the  realit}^  of  their  faith  nor  the  gen- 
uineness of  certain  moral  and  spiritual  qualities 
in  them.  But  he  believed  that  the  ecclesiastical 
system  of  the  English  Christians  as  established  by 
law  was  utterly  false  and  sinful,  and  that  true  faith 

165 


166  JOHN  ROBINSON 

and  excellent  spiritual  character  could  not  pos- 
sibly exist  in  the  Anglican  system  in  such  a  way 
that  he  could  enjoy  communion  with  its  members. 
It  appeared  to  him  like  the  case  of  the  meats  offered 
in  sacrifices  in  heathen  temples.  The  early  Chris- 
tians were  forbidden  to  eat  them,  not  because  the 
whole  subject  of  meat  for  food  was  involved,  but 
because  in  this  case  the  meat  had  been  so  essen- 
tially connected  with  something  evil  that  it  was 
thereby  contaminated  and  its  use  forbidden. 
Therefore,  a  complete  separation  from  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England  was  necessary, 
because  its  corruption  was  essential.  Thus  he 
carried  the  Separation  to  its  bitter  end.  He  had 
reached  this  position  in  Amsterdam  and  had  defined 
it  in  1610.  It  was  uncharitable  ground;  but  there 
can  be  no  question  concerning  Robinson's  clear 
conception  of  all  that  it  involved,  and  no  doubt 
about  his  sincerity  in  maintaining  the  rigid  Sepa- 
ration. 

The  first  sign  of  a  change  in  Robinson's  position 
appears  from  letters  which  passed  between  him- 
self and  Rev.  William  Ames,  enough  of  which 
have  been  preserved  to  enable  us  to  see  the  posi- 
tions taken  by  the  correspondents. 

William  Ames  was  a  man  of  Robinson's  own 
age;  had  been,  as  a  pupil  in  Cambridge,  very  deeply 


77//';    GREAT    CONTfx'OVERSY  107 

influcnccMl  by  V\'iHiain  Perkins;  had  refused  to 
wear  the  surplice  and,  therefore,  had  suffered  sus- 
pension; and  had  come  to  be  an  able  representa- 
tive of  the  conforming  Puritans.  He  was  a  more 
learned  and  a  much  stronger  antagonist  than  Ber- 
nard. He  was  often  in  Holland,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  sent  to  Leyden  at  the  expense  of  certain 
English  merchants  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in 
controversy  with  Robinson.  He  was  an  ardent 
champion  of  Calvinism,  and  watched  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Synod  of  Dort  in  the  interests  of  this 
doctrine. 

There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  Ames  was 
engaged  in  personal  controversy  with  Robinson 
in  Leyden  in  reference  to  the  Separation.  And 
this  was  probably  the  occasion  of  the  exchange 
of  letters,  to  which  we  will  now  turn. 

They  are  preserved  in  a  small  volume  which 
contains  a  virulent  attack  upon  the  Ancient  Lon- 
don Church,  published  in  1612,  under  the  title 
''  The  Prophane  Schisme  of  the  Brownists  or  Sep- 
aratists." Christopher  Lawne  and  three  others 
are  named  as  the  authors,  but  Robinson  asserts 
that  the  book  is  the  work  of  others  than  these.  In 
this  volume.  William  Ames  allowed  certain  letters 
that  had  been  exchanged  between  himself  and 
Robinson   to    be   published   without   the   latter 's 


168  JOHN  ROBINSON 

consent  or  least  suspicion  that  they  were  to  be 
made  pubhc  in  this  way. 

Robinson's  first  letter  is  lost.  Ames  replied  to 
it,  evidently  from  the  Hague,  in  1611.  He  urged 
Robinson  to  consider  if  communion  w^ere  not  pos- 
sible entirely  outside  a  church  order.  The  fact 
that  men  have  communion  with  Christ  is  the 
ground  of  their  communion  with  one  another. 
Prayer  is  indulged  in  before  a  covenant  is  entered; 
but,  even  Robinson  would  hold,  the  church  exists 
by  virtue  of  its  covenant;  therefore  communion 
in  prayer  is  possible  out  of  any  church  organiza- 
tion. 

To  this  letter  Robinson  made  answer  from  Ley- 
den,  maintaining  stiffly  that  religious  communion 
does  not  rest  upon  the  discovery  of  inward  fellow- 
ship with  Christ,  but  that  it  is  conditioned  upon 
the  orderly  establishment  of  church  relations. 
Therefore,  it  is  unlawful  for  Separatists  to  hear 
Anglican  ministers  preach;  or  to  join  with  them  in 
prayer;  or  even  to  engage  in  private  prayer  with 
members  of  the  Church  of  England. 

In  these  letters  to  Ames,  then,  we  find  Robinson 
holding  the  same  position  which  he  maintained 
against  Bernard  in  his  ^^Justification  of  Separa- 
tion.'' 

But  in  1614  there  appeared  by  far  the  most 


THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  169 

significant  of  all  Robinson's  books,  ^'Of  Relig- 
ious Communion,  Private  and  Public."  'The  title 
itself  hints  at  some  change  of  view.  His  words 
in  the  preface  and  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
treatise  shov;  us  what  this  change  is.  Robinson 
has  realized  the  force  of  the  difference  between 
''public"  and  ''private"  communion.  He  says 
that  he  never  intended  to  call  in  question  the 
faithfulness  and  goodness  of  the  many  in  the 
parishes  of  England  who  were  thereby  worthy  of 
communion  with  Christian  brethren.  But  the 
point  which  he  feared  was  that  the  true  order  of 
the  church  would  be  violated  if  there  should  be 
any  communion  between  those  who  were  gath- 
ered in  the  one  true  church  order  (that  is,  the 
church  of  the  Separatists)  and  the  Church  of  l^ig- 
iand.  The  change  in  Robinson's  opinion  was  due 
to  the  discovery  of 

"a  distinction  of  religious  actions  into  personal 
and  church  actions,  which,  if  either  Mr.  A[mes] 
had  observed  unto  me,  or  I  myself  then  conceived 
of,  would  have  cleared  the  question  to  my  con- 
science, and  with  which  I  did  wholly  satisfy  my- 
self in  this  matter,  when  God  gave  me  once  to 
observe  it.  My  judgment  therein  and  the  reasons 
of  it  I  have  set  down  in  the  first  part  of  the  book, 
[Of  Relic/ions  Communion]  unto  which  I    bind  no 


170  JOHN  ROBINSON 

man  further  to  assent  than  he  sees  ground  from 
the  Scriptures.  ^'^ 

The  passage  of  Scripture  from  which  more  Ught 
broke  to  Robinson  on  this  fundamental  matter  of 
his  reUgious  practice  was  Col.  2:5, 

''For  though  I  be  absent  in  the  flesh,  yet  am.  I 
wdth  you  in  the  spirit,  joying  and  beholding  your 
order,  and  the  steadfastness  of  your  faith." 

It  is  an  interesting  commentary  upon  Robin- 
son's value  of  the  Scripture  even  in  its  most  de- 
tailed statements,  and  the  sympathetic  manner  in 
which  he  interpreted  it,  that  this  passage,  often 
read  so  carelessly  as  one  of  the  less  important 
utterances  of  a  letter  of  Paul,  should  decide  Rob- 
inson's opinions  so  radically.  He  discovers  here 
that  Paul  reduces  the  reasons  of  his  rejoicing  to 
tw^o,  the  "faith"  and  the  ''  order"  of  the  members 
of  the  church  in  Colossal.  Of  these,  faith  is  the 
more  important,  in  that  it  makes  men  capable 
of  the  church  order  in  w^hich  they  stand  united. 
From  these  tw^o  fountain  heads  flow  two  sorts  of 
religious  actions,  which  may  be  termed  "  personal  " 
and  "  church"  actions.  Personal  actions  are  those 
which  are  prompted  and  sanctioned  by  personal 
faith.  They  are  private  prayer,  thanksgiving, 
singing  of  psalms,  profession  of  faith,  confession 

'  "Of  Religious  Communion,"  3:  102. 


THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  171 

of  sins,  readiiis;  and  oxplaininc;  the  Scriptures, 
or  hearing  this  tlone  in  a  family  or  elsewhere, 
without  the  use  of  any  church  or  ministry  for  this 
purpose  being  deemed  necessary.  On  the  other 
hand,  church  actions  consist  in  the  reception  or 
excommunication  of  members,  electing  and  depos- 
ing of  oflicers,  and  all  employment  of  a  public 
ministry  or  communion  under  the  sanction  of  the 
church  order. 

For  the  first  set  of  actions  personal  faith  only 
is  necessary  on  the  part  of  those  who  perform 
them.  Personal  faith  is  also  necessary  for  the 
right  performance  of  the  second  set  of  actions, 
but,  in  addition  to  faith,  there  must  also  be  a  true 
church  order,  in  and  by  which  these  functions  are 
to  be  realized. 

The  practical  result  of  this  distinction  in  Scrip- 
ture is  a  new  pro]:)Osition,  namely, 

''that  we  who  profess  a  Separation  from  the 
English  national,  provincial,  diocesan  and  paro- 
chial church  and  churches,  in  the  whole  formal 
state  and  order  thereof,  may,  notwithstanding, 
lawfully  communicate  in  private  prayer,  and  other 
the  like  holy  exercises  (not  ])erformed  in  their 
church  connnunion,  nor  by  their  church  power 
and  ministry)  with  the  godly  amongst  them, 
though  remaining  of  infirmity  members  of  the 
same  church  or  churches,  except  some  other  ex- 


172  JOHN  ROBINSON 

traordinary  bar  come  in  the  way  between  them 
and  us/'' 

This  new  proposition  Robinson  defends  at 
length,  admitting  its  inconsistency  with  what  he 
had  as  strenuously  maintained  in  his  former  writ- 
ings. But  he  claims  that  the  new  position  is 
really  only  a  return  to  that  which  he  had  occupied 
at  the  time  of  his  original  decision  for  the  Sepa- 
ration, and  that  the  same  difference  between  faith 
and  order  had  really  been  made  also  by  Barrow, 
Johnson  and  Ainsworth. 

The  argument,  however,  we  will  not  follow  in 
detail.  There  are  two  points  of  value  for  us  as 
we  seek  to  set  forth  Robinson's  development  and 
character.  The  first  is  the  manner  in  which  he 
reached  the  new  position.  Such  an  exegetical 
conclusion  from  a  rather  insignificant  passage  in 
the  New  Testament  seems  to  us  quite  unwarrant- 
able. No  canons  of  historical-critical  interpre- 
tation could  give  us  such  a  result.  But  to  John 
Robinson  the  method  was  perfectly  valid  and  the 
conclusion  perfectly  clear.  To  us  it  seems  that 
the  elaborate  result  reached  had  been  rather 
read  into  the  passage  by  Robinson's  own  kindly 
mind  craving  Scriptural  sanction  for  a  catholic 
view  of  Christian  fellowship.     And  such  may  be 

^  "Of  Religious  Communion,"  3:  105. 


THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  173 

the  case.  If  it  is,  the  process  was  unconscious. 
John  Robinson's  heart  may  have  craved  what  he 
found ;  he  may  have  hit  upon  the  wealth  of  mean- 
ing which  he  discovered  in  Paul's  words  very 
largely  because  of  that  craving.  But  to  him  it 
was  a  true  breaking  forth  of  light  from  the  ^^'o^d 
of  God  for  the  guidance  of  his  way.  He  sought 
to  bind  no  one  to  his  oi)inion  further  than  the  war- 
rant of  the  Word  seemed  to  be  sufficient.  There 
is  no  better  index  to  the  whole  spirit  of  Robinson's 
life  than  we  find  in  this  change  of  opinion  con- 
cerning communion  and  the  reasons  which  he  him- 
self gives  for  it.  We  shall  need  to  recall  it  when 
we  consider  later  the  use  of  the  phrase  ''more 
light/'  which  is  so  often  and  so  justly  used  to 
describe  his  character. 

The  effect  of  this  change  in  position  is  very 
marked  in  the  controversies  of  the  time.  The 
followers  of  Henry  Ainsworth  in  Amsterdam  still 
maintained  the  rigid  Separation.  Against  them 
Rev.  John  Paget,  who,  we  recollect,  was  the  pastor 
of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  church  there,  issued 
''An  Arrow  against  the  Separation  of  the  Brown- 
ists"  in  IGIS.  The  publication  of  Paget 's  book 
was  occasioned  by  the  refusal  of  Ainsworth 's  peo- 
ple to  have  fellowship  with  Paget 's  church  mem- 
bers.    Robinson's  position  taken  in  "Of  Religious 


174  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Communion"  was  naturally  an  argument  of  prime 
value  to  Paget.     He  writes  against  Ainsworth, 

"You  send  me  unto  such  a  book  of  Mr.  Robin- 
son as  himself  cloth  begin  to  revoke  publicly  as 
being  unsound  in  divers  things  [i.  e.  the  "Justifi- 
cation of  Separation/'  1610]  whereas  I  refer  you 
unto  a  later  book  of  his  [i.  e.  "Of  Religious 
Communion ''],  made  with  riper  deliberation  and 
in  no  part  that  I  hear  of  publicly  revoked. 
His ....  Justification  of  Separation  is  sick  of 
King  Jehoram's  incurable  disease  .  ^  .  ;  unto 
this  rotten  book  you  refer  me,  and  yet  blame 
me  that  refer  you  unto  that  which  is  more 
sound.''  ^ 

The  same  plan  of  argument  is  pursued  through 
his  book  by  Paget.  And  it  must  have  been  a  dif- 
ficult point  for  Ainsworth  to  meet.  His  church 
was  deeply  stirred  over  the  question,  and  the  peo- 
ple publicly  and  earnestly  urged  Ainsworth  to 
defend  his  position  for  the  rigid  Separation  against 
Robinson.^  Paget  also  gives  us  a  glimpse  of 
the  practice  of  Robinson's  church  as  early  as 
1618.    He  says, 

"  Mr .  Robinson'^and  his  people  do  now  (as  divers 
of  themselves  confess)  receive  the  members  of 
the  Church  of  England  unto  their  congregation, 
and  this  without  any  renunciation  of  the  Church 

^  Pa^et,  "  An  Arrow,"  p.  59. 
-  Ibid.,  p.  6. 


rilE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  \7r> 

of  England,  without  any  ro})ontaiice  for  their 
idolatries,  committed  in  the  Church  of  England. 
How  can  you  [Ainsworth]  hold  them  to  be  a 
true  church,  and  communion  with  them  lawful, 
seeing  that,  by  your  reasoning,  they  are  tied  in  the 
cords  of  their  sin  as  well  as  we?"^ 

Paget  undoubtedly  means  nothing  more  than 
what  Robinson  would  call  '^ private  communion" 
by  his  statement,  ''receive  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  into  their  congregation."  For 
Robinson's  opinion  concerning  the  matter  of  dis- 
tinctively church  fellowship  had  not  changed  in 
1615,  when  he  wrote  in  reply  to  William  Ames, 
"A  Manumission  to  a  Manuduction,  or  Answer  to 
a  Letter  inferring  Publique  Communion  in  the 
Parrish  Assemblies  upon  Private  with  Godly  Per- 
sons there.  "^  (1615.)  Ames  sought  earnestly 
to  take  advantage  of  the  partial  victory  which 
he  had  won  in  Robinson's  book,  "Of  Religious 
Communion,"  and  to  overcome  Robinson's  argu- 
ments for  the  necessity  of  separation  in  all  relig- 
ious actions  involving  the  use  of  the  Anglican 
church  and  ministry.  The  argument  in  the  "  Manu- 
mission" is  perfectly  clear.  Robinson  held  the 
positions   maintained    in    1614    in  ''Of   Religious 

'  Paset,  "An  Arrow,"  p.  127. 

-  Reprinted  in  "Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  1:  165-194.  Copy  in  Congre- 
gational Library,  Boston,  Mass. 


176  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Communion."  Ames  published  a  second  '^Manu- 
duction"  to  Robinson  in  1615.  The  influence  of 
this  we  are  not  able  to  determine. 

The  next  available  source  from  which  light  is 
to  be  had  on  Robinson's  teachings  and  practice 
regarding  fellowship  consists  of  two  letters  dated 
in  the  year  1624,  written  by  him,  one  to  a  church 
in  London  and  another  to  the  church  in  Amster- 
dam. The  former  is  the  more  important.  Both 
were  printed  as  an  appendix  to  Robinson's  book, 
''The  Lawfulness  of  Hearing,"^  which  will  be 
taken  up  next. 

A  Separatist  church  in  London  had  found  itself 
confronted  with  a  practical  problem.  It  was 
this:  A  young  woman,  a  member  of  the  church, 
had  been  discovered  attending  the  services  of  the 
Church  of  England,  especially  for  the  purpose  of 
hearing  the  Scriptures  read  and  explained.  For 
this  the  church  had  disciplined  her.  She  had 
promised,  however,  to  discontinue  the  practice 
for  which  she  was  censured,  and,  on  the  strength 
of  this  promise,  she  had  been  restored  to  fellow- 
ship. The  London  church  was  not  quite  clear 
concerning  the  decision  that  they  had  reached,  and 
sent  to  the  Leyden  church  for  their  opinion  on  the 
action  thaihad  been  taken.     The  decision  of  the 

MVorks,  3:379-393. 


THE  GREAT  COXTROVERSY  111 

Leyden  church  was  read  hi  i)ul)hc  there  and  then 
sent,  by  the  unanhnous  consent  of  the  church,  to 
the  brethren  in  London.  The  reply  was  exphcit 
concerning  the  wisdom  of  retaining  the  young 
woman   in   fellowshi]): 

''We  judge,  that  tlicrein  ye  did  well,  yea,  though 
she  had  continued  her  practice  upon  occasion,  and 
without  neglect  of  the  church  whereof  she  was  a 
member,  how  much  more  leaving  it  as  she  did." ^ 

The  reply  from  Leyden,  therefore,  w^ent  beyond 
the  mere  terms  of  the  inquiry.  The  church  was 
ready  to  approve  the  permanent  retention  in  fel- 
lowship of  a  member  who  attended  the  services 
of  the  Church  of  England,  so  long  as  that  fact  did 
not  interfere  with  the  performance  of  the  mem- 
ber's full  duty  to  his  own  congregation.  This 
was  a  long  step  in  advance  of  the  teaching  ol 
Robinson  in  1614  and  1615. 

The  London  church  also  made  an  inquiry  con- 
cerning the  manner  in  which  the  members  of 
Henry  Jacob's  church  were  to  be  regarded. 
This  congregation  was  carrying  out  the  Leyden 
practice  in  relation  to  other  churches,  and  it  was 
causing  scandal.  They  were  judged  to  be  ''idol- 
aters" in  going  to  the  i)ublic  worship  of  the  Angli- 
can church.     The  Leyden  brethren's  counsel  was 

'Works,  3:3S2. 


178  JOHN  ROBINSON 

sought  as  to  whether  Jacob's  church  was  a  true 
church  or  not,  so  long  as  it  maintained  this  prac- 
tice. They  answered  that  this  was  not  idolatry 
in  any  true  sense  of  the  term;  Henry  Jacob's 
church  was  a  true  church.  This  judgment  was 
further  attested  by  the  fact  that  two  persons,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Staresmore,  were  received  into  the  Ley- 
den  congregation  from  Henry  Jacob's  church  on 
the  basis  of  their  covenant  made  in  that  church, 
and,  later,  were  again  received  at  Amsterdam. 
Thus  the  character  of  Jacob's  church  in  England 
was  satisfactory  to  the  brethren  in  Ley  den  and 
Amsterdam.  At  the  same  time  it  was  knovv^n 
that  members  of  Jacob's  church  w^ent  to  the  serv- 
ices of  the  Church  of  England. 

This  is  clear  enough  witness  concerning  Rob- 
inson's convictions  in  the  year  1624.  These 
decisions  of  practical  cjuestions  came  just  before 
Robinson's  death.  They  were  simply  the  practi- 
cal application  of  a  new  principle  which  he  was 
w^orking  out,  and  which  he  put  into  a  treatise 
that  we  now  have  under  the  following  title: 

"  A  Treatise  of  the  Lawfulnes  of  Hearing  of  the 
Ministers  in  the  Church  of  England;  penned  by 
that  learned  and  reverent  Deuine,  Mr.  John  Rob- 
insz,  late  Pastor  to  the  English  Church  of  God  in 
Leyden.     Printed  according  to  the  copie  that  v\'as 


THE   GREAT   CONTROVERSY  17*,) 

found  in  liis  Stiulio  after  his  docase,  and  now  pub- 
lished for   the   common  good."^ 

This  manuscript  was  printed  in  1634,  nine  years 
after  Robinson's  death,  by  his  friends  and  follow- 
ers. The  publishers  kei)t  it  back  for  nine  years 
out  of  respect  to  the  spirit  of  its  author.  Their 
preface  tells  us  that  they  are  aware  that  not  all 
the  Leyden  brethren  agreed  with  the  pastor's 
position,  and,  therefore,  knowing  what  his  own 
will  would  have  been  in  the  matter  of  preserving 
harmony,  they  kept  the  manuscript.  How  truly 
they  had  interpreted  their  pastor's  spirit  will  ap- 
pear from  the  preface  which  he  wrote  for  the  treat- 
ise. There  is  hardly  a  whole  book  wdiich  he  has 
left  us  that  interprets  him  more  deeply  than  these 
words,  probably  from  the  last  year  of  his  earthly 
life: 

''As  they  that  affect  alienation  from  others 
make  their  differences  as  great,  and  the  adverse 
opinion  or  practice  as  odious  as  they  can,  thereby 
to  further  their  desired  victory  over  them,  and  to 
harden  themselves  and  their  side  against  them, 
so,  on  the  contrary,  they  who  desire  peace  and 
accord  both  interpret  things  in  the  best  part  they 
reasonably  can,  and  seek  how  and  where  they 
may  find  any  lawful  door  of  entry  into  accord  and 
agreement  with  others:  of  which  latter  number 

'  Works.  3:  339-393. 


180  JOHN  ROBINSON 

I  profess  myself  (by  the  grace  of  God)  both  a  com- 
panion and  a  guide;  especially  in  regard  of  my 
Christian  comitrymen,   to  whom  God  hath  tied 
me  in  so  many  inviolable  bonds;  accounting  it  a 
cross  that  I  am,  in  any  particular,  compelled  to 
dissent  from  them,  but  a  benefit  and  matter  of 
rejoicing  when  I  can  in  anything  with  good  con- 
science unite  w^ith  them  in  matter,  if  not  in  man- 
ner, or,  where  it  may  be,  in  both.     And  this  affec- 
tion, the  Lord  and  my  conscience  are  my  witnesses, 
I  have  always  nourished  in  my  breast,  even  when 
I  seemed  furthest  drawn  from  them:  and  so  all 
that  have  taken  knowledge  of  my  course  can  tes- 
tify with  me,  and  how  I  have  still  opposed  in  others, 
and  repressed  in  mine  own  people,  to  [the  extent 
of]  my  power,  all  sour  zeal  against,  and  peremp- 
tory rejection  of    such  [persons  or  practices]  as 
whose  holy  graces  challenge  better  use  and  respect 
from   all   Christians.     And   in   testimony   of   my 
affection  this  way,  and  for  the  freeing  of  mine  own 
conscience,  I  have  penned  this  discourse,  tending 
to  prove  the  hearing  of  the  Word  of  God  preached 
by  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,  able 
to  open  and  apply  the  doctrines  of  faith  by  that 
church  professed,  both  lawful,  and,  in  cases,  nec- 
essary for  all  of  all  sects  or  sorts  of  Christians, 
having   opportunity    and  occasion  of    so  doing, 
though  sequestering  themselves  from  all  commun- 
ion with  the  hierarchical  order  there  established. 
''Three  sorts  of  opposites  I  make  account  to 
meet  withal.     The  first,  of  them  who  truly  desire 
and  carefully  endeavor  to  have  their  whole  course 


77/ A'  (:ia':AT   CONTROVERSY  181 

both  in  religion  and  otherwise  framed  by  the  holy 
and  right  seal  of  God's  Word,  either  for  their  con- 
firmation in  the  truth,  or  reformation  wherein 
through  human  frailty  they  step  aside.  And 
unto  them  es})ecially,  I  direct  this  my  discourse, 
begging  at  His  hands,  wdio  is  the  Father  of  lights, 
and  from  whom  cometh  down  every  good  and  per- 
fect gift,  for  them  as  for  myself,  that,  as  he  hath 
given  us  to  set  our  faces  toward  heaven,  and  to 
seek  him  with  the  whole  heart,  so  he  w^ould  not 
suffer  us  to  wander  from  his  commandments  to 
the  right  hand  or  to  the  left. 

''A  second  sort  is  of  them  whose  tender  and 
scrupulous  conscience  makes  them  fearful  and 
jealous  of  everything  that  hath  in  it  the  least 
appearance  or  show  of  evil,  lest,  coming  too  near 
it,  they  be  defiled  by  it  one  way  or  other.  This 
their  godly  zeal  and  tenderness  of  heart  is  to  be 
loved  of  all  men,  and  cherished  by  all  good  means. 
Only  such  are  to  be  entreated  for  their  ow^n  good 
to  take  knowledge  of  a  distinction  most  useful 
for  their  direction  in  things  lawful  in  their  kind, 
and  good  in  their  right  use:  of  which  some  are 
only  naturally  good  in  their  kind,  but  not  simply 
commanded  of  God,  as  to  get  and  keep  the  riches 
and  credit  of  the  world,  to  enjoy  outward  peace, 
or  other  bodily  comfort.  Others  are  morally 
good  in  their  kind  and  commanded  of  God,  as  to 
hear  the  Word  of  God,  obey  the  magistrate,  and 
the  like.  Now  in  things  of  the  former  sort,  it  is 
very  requisite,  considering  both  their  nature  and 
ours,  that  we  keep  a  jealous  eye  and  strait  hand 


182  JOHN  ROBINSON 

over  ourselves  and  our  ways.  .  .  .  But  now  for 
the  practice  and  performance  of  duties  simph^ 
moral  and  commanded  in  their  kind,  as  is  the 
hearing  of  God's  Word,  especially  by  God's  peo- 
ple, we  ought  to  strain  to  the  utmost,  and  to  go 
as  near  the  wind  as  may  be.  .  .  . 

''A  third  sort  of  opposites  I  make  account  to 
meet  w^ith,  more  untractable  than  the  former, 
and  more  vehemently  bent  against  the  thing  pro- 
pounded by  me,  out  of  prejudice  and  passion, 
than  the  other  by  scruple  of  conscience  or  show 
of  reason.  To  them  I  can  hardly  say  anything, 
it  not  being  their  manner  to  read  or  willingly  to 
hear  that  which  crosseth  their  prejudices.  Yet 
something  I  must  say  touching  them,  out  of  the 
woeful  experience  of  many  years  taken  of  them, 
though  not  much,  I  thank  the  Lord,  amongst  them 
unto  whom  I  have  ministered.  Some  of  these  I 
have  found  carried  Yiiih  so  excessive  admiration 
of  some  former  guides  in  their  course,  as  they  think 
it  half  heresy  to  call  into  question  any  of  their 
determinations,  or  practices.  We  must  not  think 
that  only  the  Pharisees  of  old  and  Papists  of  later 
times  are  superstitiously  addicted  to  the  traditions 
of  the  elders  and  authority  of  the  church.  In  all 
sects  there  are  divers,  especially  of  the  weaker 
sort,  who,  being  the  less  real  in  their  conceptions 
are  the  more  personal,  that  [sic]  rather  choose  to 
follow  the  troad  [i.  e.  trodden  path]  of  blind  tra- 
dition than  the  right  way  of  God's  Word  by  others 
to  be  shown   them  afterwards."^ 

^  "Lawfulness  of  Hearing,"  3:  353-356. 


THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  183 

Wo  have  made  this  long  quotation  from  the 
preface  to  Robinson's  defense  of  the  Leyden  prac- 
tice not  only  because  it  epitomizes  so  much  of  his 
spirit  and  method  in  controversy,  but  also  because 
of  its  intrinsic  nobility  of  conception.  In  all  the 
bitter  contention,  dreary  argument,  fierce  invec- 
tive and  unfair  device  of  the  controversial  litera- 
ture that  we  have  examined  in  the  history  of  the 
Separation  up  to  the  year  1624,  there  is  no  sweeter, 
kindlier,  braver  utterance  than  this.  It  stands 
for  ''sweetness  and  light"  in  a  wonderful  degree. 
Especially  important  is  this  excerpt  for  comparison 
with  the  so-called  ''Farewell  Address,"  which  we 
shall  consider  later. 

The  argument  of  the  treatise  vst  will  not  follow 
in  detail.  The  quotation  given  hints  at  the  gen- 
eral nature  of  the  discussion.  The  point  worth 
noting  is  the  relation  of  the  argument  to  Robin- 
son's emphasis  in  former  writings  upon  the  doc- 
trine of  the  "connivance  at  sin"  which  impelled 
him  to  the  rigid  Separation.  The  general  prin- 
ciple as  enunciated  by  his  opponents  was, 

"  He  that  in  anything  partakes  with  that  church 
in  which  sins  known  are  suffered  unreformed, 
partakes  in  all  the  sins  of  that  church."  ^ 

This   is  a    statement    of    the    princi]")le,   however, 

•  "Lawfulness  of  Hearing,"  3:  359. 


184  JOHN  ROBINSON 

which  he  himself  might  have  made  at  the  time  of 
his  controversy  with  Bernard  (1610),  and  which 
he  did  make  practically.  But  now  his  interpre- 
tation has  changed.     He  says, 

''I  partake  not  in  the  sins  of  any,  how  great  or 
manifest  soever  the  sins  be,  or  how  near  unto  me 
soever  the  persons  be  except  the  same  sins  either 
be  committed  or  remain  unreformed  by  my  fault. 
Otherwise,  Clirist  our  Lord  had  been  enwrapped 
in  the  guilt  of  a  world  of  sins  in  the  Jewish  Church, 
with  which  church  he  communicated  in  God's 
ordinances,  living  and  dying  a  member  thereof."  ^ 

Hence  Robinson  holds  it  to  be 

''  a  most  vain  imagination  that  everyone  that  par- 
takes with  a  church  in  things  la^vful  joins  with  it 
in  upholding  the  things  unlawful  found  in  it. "  ^ 

This  is  a  most  significant  change.  Here  Ber- 
nard and  Ames  both  might  have  taken  their  posi- 
tion in  seeking  to  rebut  the  favorite  Separatist 
argument.  Robinson  has  wrested  the  strongest 
element  out  of  the  old  argument  in  thus  taking 
refuge  behind  this  idea  of  personal  responsibility. 

When  we  test  Robinson's  practice  by  his  the- 
ory we  have  several  sources  from  which  we  get 
light  upon  it.  Perhaps  the  chief  of  these  is  Win- 
slow 's  incident  regarding  David  Calderwood  of 

I  "'Lawfulness  of  Hearing,"  3:  359. 
-  Ibid.,  390. 


THE  GREAT  CONTROVERSY  185 

Scotland,  which  is  in  his  "  Hypocrisie  Unmasked," 
p.  96.  ^  David  Calderwood  was  the  author  of  a 
book  entitled  "  Perth  Assembly,"  which  was 
printed  by  \\'illiam  Brewster  at  his  fugitive  shop 
for  setting  type  in  Leyden,  in  1G19.  The  book 
aroused  the  fiercest  rage  of  King  James  I  and  all 
the  officers  of  the  church,  who  were  determined 
to  force  episcopacy  upon  Scotland,  and  Calderwood 
escaped  to  Holland  from  Scotland  in  August, 
1619.^  Calderwood  w^as  a  personal  friend  of  Rob- 
inson and  was  accustomed  to  hear  Robinson 
preach.  When  the  church  came  to  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  Cal- 
derwood asked  permission  to  remain  to  witness 
it,  and  Robinson  answered  him,  — 

"  Reverend  Sir,  you  may  not  onely  stay  to  behold 
us,  but  partake  with  us,  if  you  please,  for  wee 
acknowledge  the  Churches  of  Scotland  to  be  the 
Churches  of  Christ." 

Calderwood  declined  the  courtesy.  But  the  mean- 
ing of  Robinson's  invitation  is  certainly  clear 
enough.  He  practiced  as  he  taught  while  pastor 
of  the  Leyden  Church. 

'  Quoted  in  Dexter,  "Congregationalism  as  Seen,"  p.  396. 
*  Arber,  "Story  of  the  Pilgrim  lathers,"  p.  239  ff. 


IX 

CHURCH  POLITY  IN  LEYDEN  AND 
AMSTERDAM 


CHAPTER  IX 

CHURCH  POLITY  IX  LEYDEX  AXD  AMSTERDAM 

From  this  study  of  Robinson's  most  significant 
contribution  to  the  history  of  the  Separation, 
which  from  its  very  nature  is  pecuHarly  of  per- 
manent interest  and  present  value,  we  turn  to  a 
study  of  his  position  in  the  pohty  of  the  Separatist 
churches.  The  aristocratic  tendencies  in  Barrow's 
teaching  and  the  democratic  elements  in  Browne's 
have  been  outlined.  The  working  out  of  the  two 
ideals  in  the  life  of  an  organized  church  was  con- 
fined chiefly  to  Amsterdam.  Robinson  was  not 
so  directly  concerned  in  the  struggle  as  were  John- 
son and  Ainsworth.  He  was  drawn  into  it,  how- 
ever, and  bore  a  large  part  not  only  in  the  defini- 
tion of  the  theory  but  also  in  the  determination 
of  the  practice  of  the  Congregational  polity.  The 
struggle  assumes  an  added  significance  when  it  is 
remembered  that  these  are  the  teachings  of  the 
man  most  influential  in  molding  the  political  ideals 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

The  removal  of  the  Scrooby  church  from  Amster- 
dam to  Leyden  was  occasioned  very  largely  by 

189 


190  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  fact  that  ^^ye  flames  of  contention ^^  were 
perceived  by  Robinson  as  about  to  break  out  in 
the  Ancient  Church.  This  contention  was  partly 
concerning  the  place  and  authority  of  the  elder- 
ship in  the  government  of  the  church.  It  was 
simply  the  outward  manifestation  of  a  general 
haziness  which  prevailed  in  the  teaching  of  the 
earlier  Separatists.  This  teaching  it  is  not  easy 
to  classify.  The  terms  of  modern  political  science 
could  not  have  been  used  then;  words  which  we 
have  learned  to  ennoble  were  then  considered  to 
be  terms  of  indignity.  Many  a  name  given  in 
contempt  becomes  in  the  course  of  time  the  pride 
and  boast  of  a  party.  Hence,  we  must  not  be 
surprised  to  find  Robinson  seeking  to  shun  the 
reproach  of  a  name  the  glory  of  which  we  are  glad 
to  assume.  Underneath  the  different  terms  we 
must  search  for  the  real  facts  of  the  teaching  of 
these  m.en,  and  not  suffer  ourselves  to  wonder  too 
much  at  frequent  inconsistency  and  obscurity. 

In  the  case  of  Francis  Johnson,  pastor  of  the 
Ancient  Church  in  Amsterdam,  there  is  clear  enough 
evidence  of  a  decided  bent  toward  the  aristocratic 
emphasis  in  Barrow.  His  own  experiences  with 
his  church  probably  increased  the  tendency,  for 
he  would  not  care  to  trust  too  much  to  the  popular 
judgment  as  to  the    Christian    character  of  his 


CHURCH   POLITY  101 

own  family  relations.  He  went  on  until  he  be- 
came, in  the  words  of  Robinson,  "immoderately 
jealous  for  the  officers'  dignity."  The  whole 
emphasis  of  the  pastor  was,  therefore,  laid  in- 
creasingly upon  the  power  of  the  elders. 

Against  this  tendency  Henry  Ainsworth,  the 
teacher,  set  himself,  supported  by  a  minority  of 
the  congregation.  But  in  doing  this  he  did  not 
become  the  advocate  of  the  full  power  of  the  peo- 
ple in  self-government.  That  would  have  been 
democracy,  and  to  advocate  democracy  was  to 
become  the  champion  of  all  that  is  confusing  and 
disruptive  in  orderly  government,  according  to 
the  generally  accepted  ideas  even  of  the  Separa- 
tists themselves. 

When  Robinson  issued  his  "Justification  of 
Separation"  in  1610,  his  teaching  in  reference  to 
the  eldership  was  displeasing  to  Johnson.  He 
took  Robinson's  book  into  the  meeting  place  and 

"  there  before  the  congregation  made  a  solemne 
testification  against  the  manifold  errors  contained 
in  it,  which  he  disclaimed,  and  not  only  so,  but 
wrote  letters  to  ^l[r.]  Rohii^son  to  rebuke  him  for 
the  same."  ^ 

It  was  probabl}^  in  reply  to  these  letters,  no 
traces  of  which  are  at  present  known,  or  in  the 

'  Lawne,  "Prophane  Schisme,"  p.  76. 


192  JOHN  ROBINSON 

correspondence  called  out  by  the  difference  in 
practice,  that  Robinson  warned  Johnson  against 
overthrowing  the  constitution  of  the  church  by 
his  practice.  This  letter  was  read  publicly  in  a 
meeting  of  the  Ancient  Church,  and 

"  Master  Johnson  hath  thereupon  said,  let  master 
Robinson  then  looke  to  the  constitution  of  his 
church."! 

Johnson  was  very  outspoken  in  his  condemnation 
of  the  practice  of  Robinson  in  Leyden,  calling  it 
"the  confusion  of  Korah  and  his  companie." 
The  pastors  were  thus  set  in  direct  opposition; 
and  then  the  deacons  joined  in  the  conflict.  Dea- 
con Daniel  Studley  of  Amsterdam  vvTote  a  letter 
to  Deacon  Samuel  Fuller  of  Leyden,  in  which  he 
described  the  whole  company  of  the  brethren  at 
Leyden  as 

"ignorant  idiots,  noddy  Nabalites,  dogged 
Doegs,  fairfaced  Pharisees,  shameless  Shemeites, 
malicious   Machiauellians. "  ^ 

Lawne  makes  fun  of  this  "  Alphabeticall  slan- 
derer/' and  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  that  Stud- 
ley's  tirade  caused  Pastor  Robinson  and  Deacon 
Fuller  a  hearty  laugh  together. 

An  open  rupture  came  in  Amsterdam  between 

1  Lawne,  "Prophane  Schisme,"  p.  72. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  77. 


CHURCH    POLITY  193 

the  followers  of  Francis  Johnson,  called  the  ''  Fran- 
ciscans/' and  the  followers  of  Ainsworth,  the 
teacher  of  the  church,  called  the  "Ainsworth- 
ians.''  The  sympathies  of  the  Ley  den  men  were, 
of  course,  with  the  latter.  This  was  evident 
enough  from  the  manner  in  which  the  arguments 
of  Robinson  in  his  "Justification  of'  Separation" 
had  provoked  Johnson  and  buttressed  the  posi- 
tions of  Ainsworth.  When  Ainsworth  proposed, 
therefore,  that  the  counsel  of  Robinson  and  his 
church  be  sought  for  settling  the  quarrel,  John- 
son's party  refused  to  accept  their  advice.  Then 
about  thirty  members  of  the  Ancient  Church, 
supporters  of  Ainsworth,  wrote  to  the  Leyden 
church,  rehearsed  the  trouble,  and  asked  for  help 
toward  a  settlement.  At  the  same  time  they  in- 
formed the  brethren  in  Leyden  that  the  elders 
(who  were,  practically,  according  to  Johnson's 
teaching,  the  church)  would  not  approve  the  en- 
trance of  Robinson's  members  into  the  affair,  but 
would  permit  it,  if  the  Leyden  brethren  would 
come  in  either  on  their  own  initiative  or  at  the 
request  of  the  Ainsworthians.  ^ 

To  this  rather  humiliating  request  Robinson 
made  a  dignified  reply.  This  was  not  directed 
to  the  thirty  who  had  sent  his  people  the  request, 

'  Works.  3:  470. 


194  JOHN  ROBINSON 

but  to  the  entire  officers  and  membership  of  the 
Ancient  Church.  With  skill,  wisdom  and  kind- 
ness Robinson  laid  the  request  of  the  thirty  before 
them,  and  then  said  that  his  people  were  not  will- 
ing to  come  into  the  matter  except  they  were 
called  for  counsel  by  the  whole  church  and  unless 
there  were  some  hope  of  a  successful  issue  of  the 
business. 

The  Ancient  Church  refused  to  approve  of  any 
interference  for  counsel  on  the  part  of  the  Leyden 
brethren.  Robinson  wrote  twice  to  the  same 
effect,  and  twice  his  advances  were  repulsed.  He 
gave  up  then  any  hope  of  helping  in  a  dignified  way. 
In  the  meantime  the  majority  deposed  Ainsworth 
from  his  office  as  teacher.  Robinson  had  not 
been  standing  for  his  dignity  or  privilege  merely. 
When  matters  came  to  this  critical  pass  he  was 
ready  to  do  anything  in  the  interests  of  peace.  A 
delegation  went  up  to  Amsterdam.     Robinson  was 

"chief  of  the  messengers  sent;  whiclvhad  that 
good  effect,  as  that  they  revoked  the  said  deposi- 
tion [of  Ainsworth  from  his  office  as  teacher,]  and 
confessed  their  rashness  and  error,  and  lived  to- 
gether in  peace  some  good  time  after.  "^ 

The  two  factions  were  not  quiet,  however,  in 
spite  of  Robinson  ^s  most  persistent  and  kindly 

^  Gov.  Bradford's  "Dialogue"  in  "X.  E.    Memorial,"  Boston,  1855, 
p.  330. 


CHURCH    POLITY  19r> 

efforts  to  heal  the  breach.  Aiiiswortli  secured  the 
attendance  of  Robinson  and  his  delegates  in  Am- 
sterdam a  second  time.  Then  Johnson  proposed 
that  those  members  of  his  church  who  could  not 
agree  to  his  methods  in  church  government  should 
be  dismissed  to  Lej^den.  The  consent  of  Robin- 
son was  secured.  The  end  seemed  to  be  in  sight, 
v;hen  suddenly  the  Ancient  Church  repudiated 
the  agreement,  giving  as  their  reason  a  fear  that 
the  dismissed  members  would  not  leave  Amster- 
dam, but  would  take  their  letters,  and,  later, 
receive  dismission  from  the  Leyden  church  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  a  new  congregation  in 
Amsterdam.  Nothing  less  would  satisfy  the  Fran- 
ciscans than  the  complete  expulsion  of  the 
Ainsworthians  from  Amsterdam.  Thus  ended  all 
Robinson's  attempts  to  bring  about  a  settlement. 
The  next  proposition  came  from  Johnson,  who 
outlined  a  scheme  of  "double  practice,"  whereby 
the  Ancient  Church  was  to  keep  together  as  an 
organization,  and  yet  each  party  was  to  manage 
regarding  the  eldership  according  to  its  own  con- 
victions. This  was  in  November,  1610.  Robinson 
saw  that  such  a  condition  of  armed  neutrality 
never  would  succeed.  He  therefore  proposed  a 
"middle  way"  of  practice  for  them.  Any  matter 
of  church    discipline  was    to    be    brought    first 


196  JOHN  ROBINSON 

before  the  elders  as  the  proper  governors  of  the 
church;  if  it  could  be  settled  there,  the  decision 
was  final;  if  not,  the  case  was  to  be  brought  "to 
the  church  of  elders  and  brethren  to  be  judged 
there.'^  ^ 

In  proposing  this  plan  Robinson  saw  clearly  that 
it  meant  a  mutual  surrender,  and  he  foresaw 
success  only  on  condition  that  "it  would  please 
the  Lord  so  far  to  enlarge  your  hearts  on  both 
sides,  brethren,  as  that  this  middle  way  be  held.'' 
Robinson  did  not  commend  this  method  of  con- 
ducting a  church's  affairs  because  he  considered  it 
the  best  one  under  normal  conditions,  but  because 
he  thought  it  might  be  a  helpful  compromise 
measure  under  the  conditions  obtaining  in  Amster- 
dam. He  stated  expressly  that  this  was  not  the 
practice  of  the  Leyden  church  in  the  conduct  of 
its  business. 

The  proposition  of  the  middle  way  did  not  suc- 
ceed. Ainsworth  was  deposed  from  his  office, 
and  his  followers  were  excommunicated  from  the 
Ancient  Church.  Robinson  was  persistent  in  his 
efforts  for  peace,  and  the  dignity  and  resourceful- 
ness of  the  Leyden  pastor  are  evident  throughout 
the  entire  transaction. 

Lawne  gives  us  a  picture  of  one  of ;  the  confer- 

1  Works,  3:  468. 


CHURCH  POLITY  197 

enccs  in  Anistertlain,  which  shows  us  some  of  the 
difficulties  of  a  practical  sort  with  which  Robin- 
son was  obliged  to  contend  in  these  negotiations: 

''When  some  of  master  Ainsworth's  companie 
wrote  unto  master  Robinson,  desiring  him  to  come 
and  helpe  the  Lord  against  the  mightie  (against 
master  Johnson,  whom  they  had  accounted  as  the 
strongest  Giant  of  the  Separation)  master  Robin- 
son at  last  came  unto  them  to  dispute  with  mas- 
ter Johnson  about  the  change  of  his  gouernment; 
and  being  come  and  entred  within  the  listes  of  that 
disputation,  he  found  master  Ainsworth's  faction 
so  disorderly  and  clamorous,  that  he  often  desired 
them  to  be  still  and  silent,  and  reproued  their 
vnseemly  and  vnreasonable  behaviour;  but  at 
length  when  he  saw  the  tumult  encrease,  (look- 
ing vpon  them  round  about,  as  a  man  amazed 
and  agast,  with  fierce  and  outragious  carriage) 
he  did  then  openly  testifie  among  them,  That  he 
had  rather  walks  in  peace  with  five  godly  persons, 
than  to  live  with  fine  hundred  or  fine  thousand.  sux:h 
unquiet  persons  as  these  ivereJ^  ^ 

Johnson  then  assured  Robinson  that  the  be- 
haviour of  the  Ainsworthians  which  seemed  so 
disorderly  was  really  nothing  when  compared 
with  the  manner  in  which  they  ordinarily  carried 
themselves.  Robinson's  self-command  appears  all 
the  more  from  such  comparisons  as  these.     There 

'  "  Prophane  Schismc,"   p.  84. 


198  JOHN  ROBINSON 

is  no  wonder  that  the  Ancient  London  Church 
was  (Usrupted.  There  was  no  master  spirit  in 
eontroL 

It  is  not  difficult  to  determine  Robinson's  the- 
ory of  church  government  from  his  writings.  A 
brief  statement  of  it  has  been  made  in  the  chapter 
on  his  definition  of  the  Separation  in  the  contro- 
versy with  Bernard.  This  is  contemporary  with 
his  effort  to  aid  in  the  solution  of  the  eldership 
question  in  Amsterdam.  In  1619  Robinson  pub- 
lished his  "Apologia"  in  Latin,  which  was  issued 
in  1625  in  English  under  the  title,  '^A  Just  and 
Necessary  Apology  of  Certain  Christians,  no  less 
contumeliously  than  commonly  called  Brownists 
or  Barrowists."  ^  Its  purpose  was  to  make  clear 
the  differences  between  the  Reformed  Churches 
and  the  Leyden  Church,  and  also  to  differentiate 
the  latter  from  other  Separatist  congregations. 
The  fourth  chapter  in  this  ^"Apology''  is  entitled 
^'Of  the  Ecclesiastical  Presbytery. '^  The  general 
position  maintained,  however,  is  not  materially 
changed  from  that  of  1610.  Robinson's  system 
of  government  is  neither  positively  one  thing 
nor  another.  Its  theory  wavers.  He  believed 
that  no  person  should  be  chosen  to  the  office  of 
an  elder  unless    he  were  able    to  teach,  exhort 

1  Works,  3:  p.  1-79. 


CHURCH    POLITY  199 

and  (lofend  the  faith  in  any  j)u])lic  gathering  as 
well  a^  in  i)iivate  meetings.^  The  elders  should  be 
chosen  for  a  term  of  service  lasting  through  life. 
The  chief  jioint,  however,  was  that  the  elders 
ought  not  to  exercise  their  power  in  private. 
To  meet  apart  from  the  congregation  for  delibera- 
tion concerning  an}'-  matters  proj^erly  within  their 
juris(Uction  was  right.  But  all  their  official  action 
must  be  public.  The  practice  in  the  Reformed 
churches,  where  the  secret  meetings  of  the  elders 
made  it  impossible  for  the  people  to  know  or 
approve  their  actions,  was,  Robinson  firmly  held, 
entirely  wrong.  Indeed,  he  went  so  far  as  to  say 
that,  between  the  interpretation  of  the  command, 
''  Tell  the  church, "  which  made  the  term  "  church  " 
equivalent  to  the  Anglican  bishops  and  their 
officers,  and  that  which  made  it  equivalent  to 
''the  senate  of  elders  excluding  the  people,"  the 
former  meaning  was  far  nearer  the  truth,  for  the 
bishops  and  their  officers  did  not  exclude  the 
people  from  the  consistories,  but  presented  there 
their  judgment  to  the  people. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  this  kindlier  view  of  epis- 
copacy and  the  consistory,  against  which  Robmson 
had  once  written  so  bitterly  and  which  here  he  con- 
siders in  a  fairer  light  although  without  ai>proval. 

>  "Apology,"  3:  2S-41. 


200  JOHN  ROBINSON 

The  difference  between  the  two  systems  of  gov- 
ernment comes  out  clearly  only  when  we  take  a 
specific  instance  by  which  to  test  it.  This  test 
is  the  matter  of  church  discipline.  How  was  an 
offender  to  be  treated?  Robinson's  answer  to 
the  question  is  clear.  He  held  the  censure  of 
offenders  for  any  private  or  public  scandal  to  be 
the  function  of  the  elders,  and  granted  that,  in  a 
''well-ordered  state  of  the  church,''  the  perform- 
ance of  this  function  might  be  left  to  the  elders 
alone  with  safety;  nevertheless  it  never  could 
be  rightly  performed  without  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  people.  An  offender  must  not  be 
judged  by  the  elders  alone,  ''but  by  the  church 
with  them,  though  governed  by  them.' ' 

According  to  this  theory,  which  may  seem  to 
be  somewhat  loosely  defined,  Robinson  admin- 
istered the  affairs  of  the  Leyden  church  success- 
fully.    He  wrote  to  the  Amsterdam  brethren, 

"We  safely  say,  so  far  as  we  remember,  that 
there  never  came  complaint  of  sin  to  the  church 
since  we  were  officers,  but  we  [i.  e.  the  officers] 
took  knowledge  of  it  before  [it  was  brought  openly 
before  the  whole  body  of  the  church  members], 
either  by  mutual  consent  on  both  sides,  or  at  least, 
by  the  party  accused;  with  whose  Christian  mod- 
esty and  wisdom  we  think  it  well  sorteth,  that 
being  condemned  by  two  or  three  brethern,  he 


CHURCH  POLITY  201 

should  not  trouble  ihr  church,  or  hazard  a  public 
rebuke  upon  himself,  without  counselling  with 
them  who  are  set  over  him,  and  who  either  are  or 
should  be  best  able  to  advise  him."^ 

There  is  a  still  more  specific  illustration  of 
the  manner  in  which  Robinson  steered  between 
aristocracy  and  democracy  in  the  government  of 
the  congregation.  When  the  church  in  London 
sought  the  judgment  of  the  churches  in  Ley  den 
and  Amsterdam  concerning  the  wisdom  of  retain- 
ing in  fellowship  the  young  woman  who  had  at- 
tended Anglican  worship,  Robinson  answered, 

''he  conceives  it  not  orderly  that  the  bodies  of 
churches  should  be  sent  to  for  counsel,  but  some 
choice  persons.  Power  and  authority  are  in  the 
body  for  elections  and  censures,  but  counsel  for 
direction  in  all  affairs,  in  some  few;  in  which  re- 
gard every  particular  church  has  appointed  its 
eldership  for  ordinary  counsellors,  to  direct  it  and 
the  members  thereof  in  all  difficulties;  with  whom 
others  are  also  to  advise  upon  occasions,  specially 
ordinary."  ^ 

From  all  these  sources  it  is  evident  that  Rob- 
inson took  every  possible  course  to  avoid  the  idea 
of  democracy.  As  he  asks  Johnson,  "Where  do 
I  in  all   this  book,   [The  Justification  of  Separa- 

'  Works.  3:  473,  474. 
'Ibid.,  3:  382. 


202  JOHN  ROBINSON. 

tion,]  as  is  imputed  to  me,  advance  the  people, 
as  others  do  the  prelates,  and  make  them  idols?"  ^ 
He  held  that  the  officers  were  the  governors  of 
the  congregation;  the  people,  the  governed;  and 
that  power  and  government  were  two  entirely 
different  things.  The  government  was  with  the 
officers;  the  power  lay  in  the  whole  church,  in 
the  people. 

Robinson's  writings  are  consistent  in  their 
teaching,  as  his  practical  administration  of  the 
Leyden  church  preserved  the  function  of  the  church 
officers  and  the  power  of  the  congregation  for  self- 
government.  He  turned  the  tide  that  set  to- 
ward oligarchy  on  the  one  hand,  and  he  saved 
the  Separation  from  alliance  with  dangerous  anar- 
chistic tendencies.  He  avoided  the  word  democ- 
racy; with  the  content  which  the  term  then  bore, 
this  was  an  act  of  wisdom.  It  was  a  true  democ- 
racy for  which  he  stood,  however,  and  into  the 
possession  of  which  he  guided  the  Congregational 
churches. 

1  Works,  3:481. 


X 

PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEYDEN 


CHAPTER  X 

PROSPEROUS   YEARS    IX    LEYDEN 

Returning  now  to  the  story  of  the  church  in 
Leyclen,  we  must  pick  up  the  thread  of  the  nar- 
rative which  was  dropped  at  the  close  of  Chapter 
VI,  at  which  point  it  seemed  necessary  to  look 
in  detail  at  the  matter  of  Robinson's  theology, 
his  practice  in  regard  to  communion,  and  his  rela- 
tion to  the  other  Separatists  in  respect  to  the  elder- 
ship. 

The  complete  organization  of  the  church  took 
place  after  they  were  established  in  Ley  den.  As 
we  should  naturally  expect  from  Robinson's  the- 
ories in  regard  to  the  matter,  this  was  very  sim- 
ple. He  had  only  one  elder  associated  with  him. 
This  was  William  Brewster.^  He  was  chosen  to 
the  office  of  ruling  elder;  but  this,  according  to 
Robinson's  theory,  implied  that  he  was  qualified 
to  be  teaching  elder  as  well.  This  position  Brew- 
ster still  held  after  the  church  had  emigrated  to 
Plymouth,  and  in  their  services  there  used  to  call 
upon  such  men  as  Winslow,  Bradford  and  Morion 

'Bradford,  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  p.  17. 
205 


206  JOHA   ROBINSON 

to  pray  or  give  exhortations  in  the  pubhc  ser- 
vices. -^ 

Two  deacons  were  also  chosen  to  office  while 
the  church  was  in  Leyclen.  These  were  Samuel 
Fuller  and  John  Carver,  both  of  whom  bore  an 
active  part  in  the  controversies  of  the  time  in  Ley- 
den  and  rendered  great  service  to  the  church  in 
Plymouth. 

So  far  as  we  can  determine  this  was  the  full 
number  of  the  church's  officers  so  long  as  they 
remained  in  Ley  den.  There  can  be  no  question 
as  to  the  harmony  of  this  governing  body.  Brew- 
ster, Fuller  and  Carver  were  in  most  perfect  sym- 
pathy. They  accepted  the  leadership  of  the  pastor 
in  all  his  changing  views  concerning  com-munion, 
and  held  with  him  regarding  the  eldership.  He 
was  the  dominant  force  in  their  counsels,  and  the 
concord  and  strength  of  the  Leyden  church  grew 
in  no  slight  degree  from  the  personal  qualities 
of  the  pastor  and  his  three  associates. 

Robinson's  work  in  the  church  was  constant. 
He  preached  twice  on  Sundays  at  services  which 
were  probably  quite  like  those  held  by  the  churches 
in  Amsterdam,  which  were  thus  described  by 
Richard  Clifton: 

^  Cotton,  "An  Account,  etc.,"  in  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.  Series  1,  Vol. 
4,  pp.  108,  118,  136. 


PROsrERnrs  yj:.\j:s  i\  li-a'den       207 

1.  Prayer  and  giviiif:;  of  tliaiiks  by  the  pastor  or 

teachor. 

2.  The  Scriptures  are  read,  two  or  three  chapters, 

as  time  serves,  with  a  brief  explanation  of 
tlieir  meaning. 

3.  The  pastor  or  teacher  then  takes  some  passage 

of  Scripture,  and  expounds  and  enforces  it. 

4.  The  sacraments  are  administered. 

5.  Some  of  the  Psahns  of  David  are  sung  by  the 

whole  congregation,  both  before  and  after 
the  exercise  of  the  Word. 

6.  Collection  is  then  made,  as  each  one  is  able, 

for  the  supi)ort  of  the  officers  and  the  poor.-^ 

That  this  was  the  general  form  observed  in  Le}^- 
den  we  are  t[uite  sure.  One  of  the  records  of  the 
church  in  Plymouth  contains  this  answer  made  by 
them  to  the  objection  current  against  them  in 
England  that  the  sacraments  w^ere  not  adminis- 
tered frequently  enough: 

*'The  more  is  our  grief  that  our  pastor  is  kept 
from  us,  by  whom  we  might  enjoy  them,  for  we 
used  to  have  the  Lord's  supper  every  sabbath, 
and  baptism  as  often  as  there  was  occasion  of  chil- 
dren to  baptize."  ^ 

Robinson's  relations  to  the  Reformed,  or  Cal- 

•  Clifton's  "Advertisement,"  quoted  in  Robinson's  Works,  3:  485. 
-  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll..  1795,  Series  1,  Vol.  4,  p.  108. 


208  JOHN  ROBINSON 

vinistic,  churches  of  the  city  comes  into  view  nat- 
urally at  this  point.  In  the  year  1617  Paget  wrote 
his  ''An  Arrow  against  the  Separation  of  the 
Brownists/'  in  which  he  shows  the  inconsistency 
between  Robinson's  arguments  concerning  the 
use  of  churches  in  his  controversy  wdth  Bernard 
(1610)^  and  his  practice  in  Leyden,  where  ''hath 
he  for  this  long  time  tolerated  Mr.  Br[ewster]  to 
heare  the  word  of  God   in  such  places." 

"And  not  onely  this/'  Paget  continues,  "but 
now  of  late  this  last  moneth  [June  or  July,  1617] 
as  is  witnessed  unto  me,  he,  seeing  (as  it  appears) 
how  rashly  and  unsoundly  he  hath  written  against 
Mr.  Bernard  in  this  poynt,  begins  openly  in  the 
middle  of  his  congregation  to  plead  for  the  lawful 
use  of  these  temples."^ 

This  specific  item  of  the  use  of  churches  erected 
and  decorated  according  to  the  religious  princi- 
ples of  earlier  days  was  only  one  element  in  the 
larger  matter  of  the  communion  which  Robinson 
thought  permissible  held  between  the  Separatists 
and  members  of  the  Reformied  churches.  Cer- 
tainly in  Leyden  with  Robinson's  sanction  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  liberty  allowed  members  of  the 
church.  And  this  involved  a  criticism  which, 
along  with  other  more  serious  charges,  Robinson 

1  Works,  2:  468-472. 

^  Paget,  "An  Arrow,"  pp.  28,  29. 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEYDEN  209 

sought  to  iiuH't  ])y  tli(^  })iiblication  of  a  Latin 
*' Apologia''  in  the  year  IGIO.  Here  Robinson 
set  forth  at  considerable  length  the  differences 
between  the  two  religious  bodies. 

It  is  interesting  just  here  to  notice  one  of  the 
causes  which  led  Robinson  to  issue  the  "Apology/' 
An  anonymous  Dutch  poem  had  been  exten- 
sively circulated  in  which  the  Reformed  Church 
in  the  Netherlands  was  compared  to  a  tree,  and  all 
the  dissenting  sects  to  certain  beasts  which  were 
zealously  endeavoring  to  overthrow  the  tree.  But 
the  stinging  taunt  of  this  poem  bore  hardest 
against  the  Separatists  or  Brownists,  as  they 
were  called,  who  were  likened  "to  a  little  worm, 
gnawing  at  the  root  thereof,  and  not  having  less 
will,  but  less  power  to  hurt  than  the  residue." -^ 
This  anonymous  poem  was  a  shaft  sent  home  to 
Robinson's  soul.  It  hurt  worse  than  any  more 
dignified  assault  could  have  done. 

The  points  of  difference,  as  Robinson  draws 
them  out,  demand  only  a  brief  notice.  In  doc- 
trine, barring  the  one  item  of  the  authority  of 
the  Apochryphal  books  of  Scripture,  the  agree- 
ment between  the  Separatists  and  the  Reformed 
churches  is  absolute. 

But  the  Separatists  hold  that  no  church,  accord- 

'  Works,  3:8. 


210  JOHN  ROBINSON 

ing  to  the  New  Testament  model,  ought  to  con- 
sist of  more  members  than  can  meet  together  in 
one  place;  that  only  such  children  as  are  in  cove- 
nant relations  with  the  church  by  virtue  of  their 
parents  are  subjects  for  infant  baptism;  that  read- 
ing forms  of  prayer  is  not  right;  that  the  elders 
ought  all  to  be  able  to  teach,  also  to  serve  for  life, 
and  to  administer  their  official  duties  in  public 
and  not  in  "their  private  consistory.'^  These  are 
the  more  important  items  in  the  discussion.  But 
the  significance  of  the  '^Apology''  lies  in  the  gen- 
tler tones  in  which  the  controversy  is  carried  on. 
It  is  conciliatory  and  kindly.  Nothing  could  bet- 
ter illustrate  the  deepening  process  in  Robinson's 
life  than  a  contrast  between  the  temper  of  his  first 
writings  in  1609  and  1610,  and  this  book  from  a 
time  ten  years  later.  All  the  possible  points  of 
agreement  are  mentioned  here  before  the  issue  is 
outlined.  -^  The  arguments  of  the  Anglican  oppo- 
nents are  brought  up,  not  "byway  of  accusa- 
tion," but  only  for  the  purpose  of  self-defense. 
The  language  used  to  describe  the  condition  of 
the  parishes  has  lost  its  venom.  Even  the  bishops 
are  mentioned  in  a  kindly  way,  and  Robinson 
brings  forward  the  fact  that,  during  the  persecu- 
tions under  Queen  j\Iary,  many  of  them  gave  their 

Works,  3:64-70. 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  211 

lives   in   witness  for  the  truth.     The  conforming 
Puritans  are  not  rebuked  so  harshly. 

It  lets  us  quickly  into  the  comprehension  of 
this  gracious  spirit  of  the  '' Apology"  to  read  a 
part  of  the  concluding  paragraph: 

"And  here  thou  hast,  Christian  reader,  the 
whole  order  of  our  conversation  in  the  work  of 
Christian  religion,  set  down  as  briefly  and  plainly 
as  I  could.  If  in  any  thing  we  err,  advertise  us 
brotherly.  .  .  .  Err  we  may,  alas!  too  easily:  but 
heretics,  by  the  grace  of  God  we  will  not  be." 

And  at  the  very  end  Robinson  wrote  this  peti- 
tion : 

"  This  alone  remaineth,  that  we  turn  our  faces 
and  mouths  unto  thee,  0  most  powerful  Lord  and 
gracious  Father,  humbly  imploring  help  from  God 
towards  those  who  are  by  men  left  desolate.  There 
is  with  thee  no  respect  of  persons,  neither  are  men 
less  regarders  of  thee  if  regarders  of  thee  for  the 
world's  disregarding  them.  They  who  truly  fear 
thee,  and  work  righteousness,  although  constrained 
to  live  by  leave  in  a  foreign  land,  exiled  from 
country,  spoiled  of  goods,  destitute  of  friends,  few 
in  number,  and  mean  in  condition,  are  for  all  that 
unto  thee,  0  gracious  God,  nothing  the  less  accept- 
able. Thou  numberest  all  their  wanderings,  and 
puttest  their  tears  into  thy  bottles.  Are  they  not 
written  in  thy  book?  Towards  thee,  0  Lord,  are 
our  eyes;  confirm  our  hearts,  and  bend  thine  ear, 


212  JOHN  ROBINSON 

and  suffer  not  our  feet  to  slip,  or  our  face  to  be 
ashamed,  0  thou  both  just  and  merciful  God.  To 
him  through  Christ  be  praise  forever  in  the  church 
of  saints;  and  to  thee,  loving  and  Christian  reader, 
grace,  peace  and  eternal  happiness.     Amen." 

The  man  who  could  write  such  words  was  one 
to  whom  the  conditions  of  his  exile  were  a  constant 
pain.  There  is  no  mock  humility  or  attempt  to 
plead  the  misery  of  his  lot  purely  for  the  purposes 
of  argument  here.  One  can  see  the  sensitive 
spirit  of  Robinson  bearing  the  peculiar  grief  of  his 
humiliation,  and  trusting  implicitly  the  infinite 
resources  of  his  God.  This  prayer  comes  out  of 
his  heart.  It  shows  a  sensitive,  gracious,  proud 
spirit,  trusting  his  God  and  doing  his  work  with- 
out dejection. 

The  prosperous  years  in  Leyden  were  filled  w^ith 
other  minor  controversies  in  which  the  clear  think- 
ing and  wise  control  of  Robinson  appear.  One 
of  these  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
church  in  its  meetings.  It  is  the  controversy 
with  John  Yates  concerning  the  matter  of  "  proph- 
esying out  of  office,"  or  the  whole  matter  of  lay 
preaching.  In  his  "Justification  of  Separation" 
(1610)  Robinson  took  the  ground  that  any  per- 
son who  had  received  the  gift  of  public  address 
or  prayer  w^hich  could  be  used  in  the  church  for 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN       213 

edification,  exhortation  or  comfort,  was  bound  to 
exercise  this  gift  in  pubHc  meetings  of  the  church. 
Women  were  barred  out,  however,  by  the  direct 
command  of  the  Scriptures  that  they  must  keep 
silence  in  tlie  churches.^  This  function,  Robinson 
held,  was  to  be  exercised  apart  from  any  official 
connection  w^ith  the  church,  as  a  part  of  every 
befiever's  duty  and  privilege. 

This  position  seems  to  have  been  unwelcome 
to  many  of  Robinson's  friends  around  Norwich, 
and  one  of  them,  William  Euring,  copied  out  the 
arguments  from  "Justification"  and  gave  them 
to  Rev.  John  Yates,  with  the  request  that  they  be 
publicly  refuted  by  him.  From  these  abstracts, 
and  a  later  acquaintance  with  the  book  itself, 
Yates  preached  on  the  matter,  and  also  wrote  a 
refutation  of  Robinson's  position.  The  sermon 
notes  and  the  manuscript  refutation,  attested  by 
a  magistrate,  were  sent  to  Robinson  in  Leyden 
by  William  Euring.  In  reply,  Robinson  published 
"The  People's  Plea  for  the  Exercise  of  Prophecy, 
against  Mr.  John  Yates  his  Monopolie.  By  John 
Robinson."  2     (1618.) 

The  treatise  itself  is  one  of  the  most  tedious 
that  we  have  from  Robinson's  pen.     It  consists 

'  "Justification."  2:  246.  248. 
'  Works,  3:  285-335. 


214  JOHN  ROBINSON 

very  largely  in  a  detailed  exegesis  of  passages  of 
Scripture.  Robinson  stoutly  maintains  that  the 
right  to  speak  in  public  for  the  purpose  of  edifying, 
exhorting  or  comforting  the  church  is  a  duty 
laid  upon  every  member  as  well  as  upon  the 
officers  of  the  church.  He  is  obliged  to  guard 
himself  from  the  false  position  into  which  his 
opponents  put  him  as  they  reduced  his  proposition 
to  the  absurdity  that  every  member  of  a  congrega- 
tion was  bound  to  speak  in  public.  It  is  only 
those  male  members  who  have  the  gift  of  public 
address  who  are  so  bound,  Robinson  holds. 

The  Leyden  congregation  seems  to  have  suf- 
fered from  the  abuse  of  privilege  even  in  that  early 
day,  for  Robinson  says : 

"  Neither  .  .  .  are  they  that  speak  in  the  exer- 
cise of  prophecy  to  make  a  sermon  by  an  hour- 
glass; .  .  .  that  were  to  abuse  the  time  and 
wrong  the  gifts  of  others;  but  briefly  to  speak  a 
w^ord  of  exhortation,  as  God  enableth,  and  that 
after  the  ministerial  teaching  be  ended  (as  Acts 
13),  questions  about  other  things  delivered,  and 
with  them  even  disputations."  ^ 

One  of  the  most  interesting  stories  in  the  his- 
tory of  Robinson's  congregation  in  Leyden  is 
that  which  grows  out  of  the  offense  given  to  King 

'  Works,  3:  327. 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  21. ', 

James  I  by  l-^ldcr  William  Brewster  in  the  print- 
ing of  Calderwood's  odious  book,  '^  Perth  Assem- 
bly." We  find  no  mention  of  the  perils  of  the 
ruling  elder  during  these  months  in  any  of  Rob- 
inson's writing.  And  Bradford  has  given  us  only 
a  paragraph  concerning  the  fact  that  Elder  Brew- 
ster was  able,  toward  the  latter  part  of  his  stay 
in  Holland,  to  set  up  a  place  for  printing.  This 
meant  that  he  had  the  tyjDe,  and  not,  it  is  most 
likely,  that  he  had  a  press.  His  partner  was 
Thomas  Brewer,  who  had  a  house  near  Robinson's. 
We  know  the  general  course  of  this  difficulty 
between  the  English  and  Dutch  officials  and  the 
Elder  of  Robinson's  church,  from  the  correspond- 
ence concerning  it  which  is  preserved  in  the  Pub- 
lic Record  Office  in  London.^  For  over  a  year 
following  the  time  when  the  offensive  book  was 
first  found  by  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  on  July  27, 
1619,  Brewster  was  the  object  of  a  keen  search, 
and  often  escaped  narrowly.  At  one  time,  about 
September  23,  1619,  he  was  supposed  to  be 
safely  in  the  hands  of  the  authorities;  but  a 
drunken  officer  took  the  wrong  man  and  Brewster 
escaped.  Brewer,  however,  was  arrested  and  the 
type  seized.  At  this  point  the  Leyden  church 
appeared  on  the  scene,  offering  bail  for  Brewer's 

'  Given  in  full  in  Arber,  "Story  of  the  Pilfirim  Fathers,"  pp.  195  ff. 


216  JOHN  ROBINSON 

release  and  insisting  upon  the  privileges  which  he* 
could  claim  for  trial  at  the  university  as  one  of 
its  members.  The  students  also  were  stirred  up 
by  the  Separatists  to  claim  these  privileges  for 
their  fellow.  Brewer  finally  consented  to  go  to 
England,  and  Robinson  went  with  him  to  Rotter- 
dam, where  he  was  to  take  passage  for  England. 
The  journey  was  deferred  for  some  time,  owing 
to  contrary  winds.  During  this  time  Robinson 
had  probably  returned  to  Ley  den.  And  we  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  sternness  and  gravity  of  their  life 
there  in  a  letter  which  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  writes : 

''I  hope  it  [the  fleet  about  to  sail]  will  carry 
over  Sir  William  Zouche  and  Master  Brewer  to 
your  Honour;  who  have  lain  long  together  at 
Flushing;  and  his  fellow  Brownists  at  Leyden 
are  somewhat  scandalized,  because  they  hear  Sir 
William  hath  taught  him  to  drink  healths.'' 

We  can  almost  hear  the  chuckle  with  which  these 
representatives  of  King  James  would  speak  of  this 
''fall  from  grace"  on  the  part  of  Brewer.  It  is 
quite  likely  that  a  knowledge  of  the  weaknesses 
of  his  parishioner  may  have  been  the  motive  which 
led  Robinson  to  go  with  him  to  Rotterdam. 

Brewster  never  was  apprehended.  The  Ley- 
den church  shielded  him  successfully.  Too  much 
credit  cannot  be  given  Robinson  and  his  congre- 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN        217 

gation  for  their  loyal  support  during  that  year 
of  trial. 

Robinson  was  kept  busy  with  the  defense  of 
the  Separation  from  all  sorts  of  attacks.  One  of 
these  came  from  Thomas  Helwisse,  leader  of  John 
Smyth's  church  in  Amsterdam  after  his  death  in 
1609.  He  did  not  remain  long  in  the  pastoral 
office,  owing  to  his  conviction  that  flight  under 
persecution  was  wrong.  Therefore  he,  with  a 
considerable  number  of  his  followers,  returned  to 
England.  From  there  he  published  a  defense  of 
himself  and  his  friends  in  their  action  under  the  title, 
"A  Short  Declaration  of  the  Mystery  of  Iniquity." 
C1G12.)  In  this  work  Helwisse  not  only  advanced 
arguments  to  prove  that  it  vras  wrong  to  flee  from 
persecution  and  to  remain  in  exile  because  of  it, 
but  also  heaped  reproaches  upon  the  Separatist 
leaders  who  had  fled  to  Holland  and  were  remain- 
ing there  under  those  conditions.  He  held  that 
this  flight  from  persecution  had  resulted  in 

"the  overthrow  of  religion  in  this  island  [Eng- 
land]; the  best,  ablest,  and  greater  part  being 
gone,  and  leaving  behind  them  some  few  who,  by 
the  others'  departure,  have  had  their  affliction 
and  contempt  increased,  hath  been  the  cause  of 
many  falling  back,  and  of  their  adversaries'  re- 
joicing." ^ 

'  A.  H.  Newman,  "A  History  of  the  Baptist  Churches  in  the  United 
States."  1894,  pp.  38-47. 


I 
218  JOH^  ROBINSON 

Helwisse  made  Robinson  in  particular  the  object 
of  his  attack^  in  this  regard,  as  a  leader  of  the 
emigration  to  escape  persecution.  In  replying 
to  the  charge  Robinson  gives  a  clear  statement  of 
the  unanimity  with  which  the  original  movement 
to  Holland  was  carried  out.     He  says, 

"  And  for  drawing  over  the  people,  I  know  none 
of  the  guides  but  were  as  much  drawn  over  by 
them  as  drawing  them.  The  truth  is,  it  was  ]\Ir. 
Helwisse  w^ho  above  all,  either  guides  or  others, 
furthered  this  passage  into  strange  countries:  and 
if  any  brought  oars,  he  brought  sails."  ^ 

Robinson  meets  the  arguments  v.diich  Helwisse 
advanced  from  the  Scripture  example  of  Jacob, 
Moses,  David,  and  Joseph  carrying  the  infant 
Jesus  into  Egypt.  The  discussion  is  not  signifi- 
cant enough,  however,  to  delay  us  longer.  It 
was  one  of  those  over-refinements  of  scrupulous 
conscientiousness  v/hich  had  involved  John  Smyth 
in  many  troubles  and  plunged  his  successor  into 
woe.  It  was  a  sporadic  appearance  of  quite  un- 
warranted criticism. 

This  matter  of  flight  in  times  of  persecution 
did  not  end  Robinson's  difficulties  with  Helwisse. 
Smyth   and    Helwisse    went    together    into   the 

^  "Of  Religious  Communion,"  3:  160. 
•^  Works,  3:  159. 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN        219 

formation  of  a  now  church  in  Amsterdam  on  the 
basis  of  another  baptism  than  the  one  that  they 
had  received.  Robinson  describes  this  action 
as  follows : 

''Mr.  Smyth,  Mr.  Helwisse,  and  the  rest,  hav- 
ing utterly  dissolved  and  disclaimed  their  former 
church,  came  together  to  erect  a  new  church  by 
baptism;  unto  which  they  also  ascribed  so  great 
virtue,  as  that  they  would  not  so  much  as  pray 
together  before  they  had  it.  .And  after  some 
straining  of  courtesy  who  should  begin,  and  that, 
of  John  Baptist,  ^latt.  3:14  misalleged,  Mr.  Smyth 
baptized  first  himself,  and  next  Mr.  Helwisse,  and 
so  the  rest,  making  their  particular  confessions.''^ 

Robinson  says  that  he  heard  this  from  Smyth 
and  Helwisse  themselves. 

The  discussion  that  follow^s  is  interesting  chiefly 
because  of  its  bearing  upon  the  positions  held  by 
the  Separatists  relative  to  those  of  the  Anabap- 
tists. Joseph  Hall,  in  his  first  discussion  with 
Robinson,  sought  to  force  him  to  the  Anabap- 
tist grounds,  i.e.  that  rebaptism  is  necessary  for 
those  who  separate  from  a  church  order  which 
they  hold  to  be  false.  Hall  put  the  dilemma  in 
this   way: 

"If  wee  bee  a  true  Church,  you  must  returne. 
If  wee  bee  not  .  .  .  you  must  rebaptize."  - 

'  Works.  3:  168. 

-  Hall,  "Common  Apologie,"  p.  26. 


220  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Helwisse  and  his  successor,  Murton,  followed 
the  same  line  of  argument  which  Hall  used.  Hel- 
wisse carried  his  charges  so  far  as  to  assert  that, 
if  the  Separatists  did  not  rebaptize  they  were 
''  of  the  world,  infidels,  haters  of  Christ,  and  what 
not."  He  said,  in  substance,  the  Separatists  call 
the  Anglicans  Babylon,  yet  they  retain  the  Angli- 
can baptism,  and  are  thereby  sealed  into  the 
covenant  of  grace  by  the  seal  of  Babylon.  This 
charge  Robinson  met  in  this  proposition:^ 

"We  retain  the  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace, 
though  ministered  in  Babylon;  and  not  the  bap- 
tism of  Babylon,  but  the  baptism  of  the  Lord  in 
itself  and  by  the  Babylonians  spiritually  usurped 
and  profaned;  but  by  faith  and  the  Spirit,  now 
sanctified  to  our  use." 

Baptism  has  in  it  two  elements,  one  essential  and 
the  other  accidental.  The  first  is  the  use  of  water 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost, 
the  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace ;  the  other  is  acci- 
dental, the  manner  of  administering  the  essential 
rite,  which  includes  the  minister,  the  recipient,  and 
the  communion  in  wdiich  the  rite  is  bestowed. 
The  essential  baptism  ma}^  be  administered  and 
received  in  the  Roman  Catholic  or  the  Anglican 
Church,  although  the  manner  of  administering  it  be 

1  Works,  3:167. 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN         221 

^vliolly  false.  If  the  outer  baptism,  adiniiiistered 
in  a  false  church  order,  be  nevertheless  a  sign  of 
the  inner  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  it  is  a  true  sj)irit- 
ual  ordinance,  though  abased  and  abused.  Such 
the  baptism  of  the  Church  of  England  was  to  the 
Separatists,  and,  therefore,  they  retain  it. 

A  long  discussion  concerning  the  proper  subject 
of  baptism,  which  Robinson  carried  on  against 
Helwisse  and  Murton,  is  only  a  reassertion  of  the 
Separatist  ])rinciple  that  the  children  of  parents 
who  are  in  covenant  relations  with  God  are  them- 
selves comprehended  in  all  the  privileges  of  their 
parents,  "as  the  branches  in  the  roots."  Infants 
are,  therefore,  proper  subjects  for  baptism.  Rob- 
mson  adds  nothing  new  to  the  familiar  arguments 
on  this  point. 

Robinson's  ministry  in  Leyden  was  not  con- 
fined absolutely  to  his  own  congregation,  although 
he  always  thought  of  his  work  as  primarily  con- 
cerned with  the  particular  congregation  over 
which  he  was  set.  In  reply  to  Helwisse,  however, 
Robinson  asserted  that  he  had  ''so  preached  to 
others  in  those  cities,  as  that  by  the  blessing  of 
God  working  with  us,  we  have  gained  more  to 
the  Lord  than  Mr.  Helwisse 's  church  consists  of.''^ 
These  converts  in  Amsterdam  and   Leyden  must 

'  Works,  3:  160. 


222  JOHN  ROBINSON 

have  come  from  English-speaking  people,  and 
were  probably  from  the  large  number  of  Puritans 
Avho  were  resident  in  Holland  either  voluntarily 
for  business  reasons  or  on  account  of  persecution 
in  England.  The  fact  that  Robinson  was  recog- 
nized as  a  preacher  of  power  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  David  Calderwood,  author  of  the 
"Perth  Assembly/'  published  in  1619,  and  so 
odious  to  King  James,  was  a  very  close  friend 
of  Robinson  and  accustomed  to  attend  service  in 
Ptobinson's  church  in  order  to  hear  him  preach.^ 

Robinson  formed  many  other  close  friendships 
Vvdth  strong  men  during  these  prosperous  years  in 
Leyden.  With  some  of  these  he  agreed  and  with 
some  he  difiered.  William  Ames,  Robert  Parker, 
David  Calderwood  and  Henry  Jacob  were  mem- 
bers of  the  circle  of  his  friends  in  Leyden.  From 
them  he  received  many  a  personal  influence  which 
changed  his  thought  and  practice.  To  one  of 
them,  at  least,  he  gave  that  peculiar  direction 
which  led  him  to  become  the  founder  of  the  Inde- 
pendent churches  in  England.  This  was  Henry 
Jacob. 

Concerning  the  peace  and  order  of  the  Leyden 
church  there  is  no  question.     It  was  not  until 

^  Winslow's  "Hypocrisie  Unmasked,"  quoted  in  Dexter,  "Congrega- 
tionalism as  Seen,"  p.  396,  note  126. 


PROSPEROUS  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  223 

1645  that  Robert  Baylic  of  Glasgow,  in  his  "A 
Dissuasive  from  the  Errors  of  the  Time,"  claimed 
that  Robinson's  congn^gation  was  nearly  destroyed 
by  internal  dissensions.  Winslow  disputed  this  in 
his  ''Hypocrisie  Unmasked,"  in  1646,  and  John 
Cotton  proved  the  statement  false  by  his  ''The 
Way  of  Congregational  Churches  cleared  from  the 
Historical  Aspersions  of  Mr.  Robert  Baylie,"  pub- 
lished in  1648.  Winslow 's  testimony  concerning 
the  condition  of  the  church  in  Leyden  is  worthy 
of  careful  reading: 

"For  I  persuade  myself,  never  people  upon 
earth  lived  more  lovingly  together  and  parted 
more  sweetly  than  we,  the  Church  at  Leyden,  did; 
not  rashly,  in  a  distracted  humor,  but  upon  joint 
and  serious  deliberation,  often  seeking  the  mind 
of  God  by  fasting  and  prayer;  whose  gracious 
presence  we  not  only  found  with  us,  but  his  bless- 
ing upon  us,  from  that  time  to  this  instant,  to  the 
indignation  of  our  adversaries,  the  admiration  of 
strangers,  and  the  exceeding  consolation  of  our- 
selves, to  see  such  effects  of  our  prayers  and  tears 
before  our  pilgrimage  here  be  ended,"  ^ 

Busy  thus  with  study,  controversy,  preaching, 
parish  work,  and  the  sweet  intimacies  of  friendship, 
Robinson  spent  the  years  in  Leyden  until  he  was 
called  upon  to  make  his  last  great  sacrifice  for  the 

'  Winslow,  "HMDOcrisie  Unmaskeil,"  in  Young's  "Chronicles,"  1841, 
p.  380. 


224  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Separation  and  send  the  stronger  part  of  his  con- 
gregation out  upon  an  enterprise  which  he  had 
himself  helped  to  plan  for  them.  This  was  the 
exodus  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to  America,  which, 
although  it  seemed  to  be  the  pastor's  greatest 
sacrifice,  was  destined  to  be  the  avenue  of  his 
greatest  power. 


XI 
THE  MOVEMENT  TO  AMERICA 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    MOVEMENT   TO    AMERICA 

Ix  spite  of  seeming  success  and  prosperity  in 
Leyden,  Robinson  and  Brewster  were  both  far- 
sighted  enough  to  see  very  clearly  that  any  exten- 
sion of  their  ideas  concerning  church  government 
was  quite  impossible  among  the  Dutch.  The 
persistence  of  their  own  congregation,  in  the  face 
of  influences  necessarily  springing  from  an  envi- 
ronment in  a  strange  land,  appeared  to  them  quite 
improbable  also.  The  reasons  which  would  nat- 
urally turn  the  minds  of  these  men,  who  had  known 
the  hardship  and  pain  of  one  exile  already,  to- 
ward another  emigration  were  complex;  but  they 
may  be  reduced  to  three. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  danger  which  threat- 
ened their  cause  if  they  should  remain  in  Holland. 
The  children  of  parents  who  have  suffered  for  a 
principle  never  know  fully  what  such  championship 
costs,  and  they  hold  those  principles  less  tena- 
ciously than  their  fathers  did.  With  the  third 
generation  the  truth  once  thought  worth  dying 
for  becomes  far  weaker  in  its  grip  upon  the  grand- 
children. 

227 


228  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Another  motive  was  the  missionary  purpose. 
The  savages  in  America  offered  a  fresh  field  for 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel;  this  was  a  great 
motive  in  all  the  work  of  Robinson.  When  one 
of  his  opponents,  Helwisse,  charged  him  with 
cowardice  in  having  fled  from  persecution  in  Eng- 
land, Robinson  replied  with  a  clear  expression  of 
his  view  concerning  the  supreme  duty  of  preach- 
ing, even  in  exile.  He  claimed  that  no  man  was 
freed  from  his  obligation  to  preach  through  the 
fact  of  his  exile;  but  everywhere,  even  under  the 
most  distressing  conditions,  the  minister  must  be 
a  preacher.  And  Robinson  never  lost  his  mis- 
sionary zeal.  ^ 

There  was  an  additional  motive  which  was  very 
strong  in  the  minds  of  Robinson  and  Brewster. 
It  was  their  desire  to  find  a  place  to  live  where 
their  hardships  of  every  kind  might  be  lessened, 
in  order  that  many  persons,  who  chose  to  submit 
to  the  obnoxious  ceremonies  and  the  order  of  the 
church  established  by  law  in  England,  rather  than 
to  endure  the  shame  of  exile  and  the  hardships  of 
life  in  Holland,  might  come  fully  into  the  ranks 
of  the  Separation  if  those  hardships  were  once  re- 
moved. Robinson  perceived  the  fact  that  there 
WTre  many  Puritans  who  would  do  this  if  only 

1  Works,  3:  160. 


THE  MOVEMENT  TO  AMERICA  229 

they  "might  have  Uberty  imd  live  comfortably." 
This  point  must  not  be  underestimated  in  con- 
sidering the  purpose  which  induced  the  Leyden 
church  to  undertake  the  emigration.  It  undoubt- 
edly played  a  very  large  part  in  Robinson 's  plans. 
And  when  we  consider  the  weight  which  he  gave 
to  this  reason  in  the  light  of  the  later  history  of 
the  colonies  in  Massachusetts,  we  must  be  struck 
with  the  sagacity  of  Robinson.  Exactly  what  he 
expected  to  happen  did  happen,  and  the  Puritans 
became  Separatists  when,  in  America,  the  hard- 
ships of  the  Dutch  life  were  removed.  Robin- 
son's analysis  of  the  situation  was  remarkable 
for  its  clearness  and  foresight.  It  probably  rested 
in  no  slight  degree  upon  what  he  had  himself  seen 
in  Leyden,  where,  under  his  own  preaching,  the 
Separation  had  made  decided  gains  among  the 
English-speaking  residents.  If  this  measure  of 
success  were  possible  in  Leyden,  how  much  more 
so  under  better  conditions  in  America! 

The  idea  was  not  entirely  new.  As  early  as 
1597  members  of  the  Barrowist  group  of  Separa- 
tists in  London  petitioned  to  be  allowed  to  form 
part  of  a  projected  colony  in  America,  and  Francis 
and  George  Johnson  were  allowed  to  go.  But  the 
whole  expedition  was  a  failure.^    This  very  failure 

'  Dexter,  "Congregationalism  as  Seen,"  pp.  277,  278. 


230  JOHN  ROBINSON 

was  used  as  a  taunt  against  Robinson  by  Joseph 
Hall,  who  said  that  the  Separatists  had  been 
turbulent  alike  at  home,  in  prison,  in  the 
Netherlands  and  '^in  the  coasts  of  Virginia." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  movement  itself 
originated  in  the  minds  of  Robinson  and  Brew- 
ster, "out  of  their  Christian  care  of  the  flock  of 
Christ  committed  to  them."  ^  The  plan  was 
thoroughly  debated  by  Robinson  and  Brewster, 
and  then  was  broached  to  certain  more  influen- 
tial members  of  the  congregation.  After  private 
discussion  the  matter  was  publicly  proposed  and 
debated.  The  congregation  sought  to  know  the 
will  of  God  in  the  matter  by  fasting  and  prayer 
no  less  than  by  careful  examination  of  the  whole 
project  from  the  standpoint  of  human  w^isdom. 

This  general  method  of  proceeding  is  a  practical 
illustration  of  the  definite  theory  concerning  the 
place  of  officers  in  the  conduct  of  church  affairs 
which  Robinson  consistently  held.  They  took  the 
lead;  they  discussed  all  projects  fully;  but  the  final 
decision  of  all  questions  rested  with  the  church. 

There  seemed  to  be  common  agreement  on  the 
expediency  of  another  move.  The  most  desirable 
place  to  which  to  go  involved  the  largest  difficulty 
in  settlement.     Many  were   in  favor  of  Guiana, 

1^  Winslow,  "Hypocrisie  Unmasked,"  pp.  88,  89. 


THE  MOVEMENT  TO  AMERICA     .      231 

because  the  climate  was  tropical  and  life  wouM 
be  easy  there.  Others  were  stoutly  inclined  to- 
ward Virginia,  because  the  English  already  had 
a  foothold  there,  and  it  was  not  so  thoroughly  a 
movement  into  a  foreign  land.  The  objection  to 
Mrginia  was  that  there  also  they  would  be  liable 
to  persecution  on  religious  grounds.  The  final 
decision  was  "  to  live  as  a  distinct  body  by  them- 
selves, under  the  general  govermnent  of  Virginia;" 
to  petition  King  James  to  grant  them  freedom  in 
religion,  and,  if  this  should  be  granted,  to  carry 
the  enterprise  forward,  inasmuch  as  they  had  good 
hopes  under  such  favorable  conditions  of  backing 
from  "Great  Persons  of  good  rank  and  quality."  ^ 

In  carrying  out  this  general  plan  the  Leyden 
brethren  began  by  sending  Robert  Cushman  and 
John  Carver  to  England  to  begin  negotiations  in 
1617.  The  story  of  these  negotiations  in  detail 
as  they  were  carried  forward  in  England  does  not 
concern  our  narrative.  We  will  therefore  only 
touch  upon  a  point  here  and  there  in  which  it  is 
possible  to  discover  the  signs  of  Robinson's  activ- 
ity in  the  matter.  It  is  plain  from  the  outset  that 
Robinson  and  Brewster  together  were  the  persons 
of  prime  influence  and  authority  in  the  project. 
They  signed  the  articles  which  were  sent  by  the 

'  Bradford,  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  pp.  36.  37. 


232  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Leyden  church  to  Cushman  and  Carver  for  use  in 
advancing  their  cause  with  the  king.  These  arti- 
cles ^  were  doubtless  drawn  up  by  Robinson  about 
November,  1617.  They  minimize  the  differences 
between  the  Separatists  and  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  are  in  every  way  con- 
ciliatory and  fraternal.  The  distinctive  note  of 
Robinson  ^s  teaching  is  the  second  article,  which 
says: 

"As  we  do  acknowledge  the  doctrine  of  faith 
there  [i.  e.  in  the  Church  of  England]  taught,  so 
do  w^e  [acknowledge]  the  fruits  and  effects  of  the 
same  doctrine,  to  the  begetting  of  saving  faith  in 
thousands  in  the  land  (Conformists  and  Reform- 
ists), as  they  are  called,  with  whom  also  as  with 
our  brethren  we  do  desire  to  keep  spiritual  com- 
munion in  peace,  and  will  practice  on  our  parts 
all  lawful  things." 

The  delegates  gained  the  help  of  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,,  and  the  articles  were  used  very  success- 
fully in  carrying  forward  the  plans.  In  a  letter 
in  December,  1617,  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  wrote  to 
Robinson  and  Brewster  reporting  progress  in  the 
plans  and  commending  the  delegates,  who  were 
about  to  return  to  Leyden  for  instructions. 

To  make  clear  the  points  which  were  obscure 
or  unsatisfactory,  Robinson  and  Brewster  drew^ 

1  See  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  Series  2,  Vol.  3,  pp.  295-302. 


THE  MOVEMENT  TO  AMERICA  233 

up  a  statement,  which  was  signed  by  a  majority 
of  the  congregation.  This  was  sent  to  the  Council 
for  Virginia  by  Carver  and  Cushman.  They  also 
sent  a  letter,  in  December,  1617,  to  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  expressing  their  personal  gratitude  to  him 
for  his  services  already  rendered,  and  urging  him 
to  continue  to  help  them. 

But  the  king  would  not  grant  the  Separatists 
religious  freedom  in  explicit  terms  and  under  his 
seal.  He  wTnt  so  far  as  to  say,  "  that  he  would 
connive  at  them,  and  not  molest  them,  provided 
they  carried  themselves  peaceably. "  The  Wv- 
ginia  Company  sought  to  persuade  the  Leyden 
brethren  to  go  on,  trusting  that  everything  would 
be  as  they  wished  in  spite  of  the  king's  refusal 
positively  to  sanction  their  religious  freedom. 

When  the  agents  returned  to  Leyden  with  this 
report  there  was  a  division  of  opinion  in  the  church. 
Probably  the  majority  were  inclined  to  believe 
that  this  promise  of  King  James  was  altogether 
too  insecure  a  foundation  upon  which  to  risk  a 
move  which  involved  the  selling  of  household 
goods  and  a  long,  perilous  journey  into  a  strange 
land.  It  was  natural  enough  that  this  should  be  so. 
These  men  had  learned  prudence  because  they  had 
suffered  much. 

On   the   other  hand,    ''some  of    the   Chiefest" 


234  JOHN  ROBINSON 

thought  that  they  were  quite  warranted  in  pro- 
ceeding even  upon  this  very  uncertain  consent 
of  the  king.  Among  the  ''Chief est"  was  surely 
enough  Robinson,  and  Bradford  gives  us  a  Uttle 
of  his  reasoning  in  the  matter,  which  shows  that 
he  knew  the  character  of  kings,  and  of  James  in 
particular,  pretty  thoroughly.  He  argued  that 
there  was  no  special  difference  between  the  prom- 
ises of  King  James,  whether  they  were  intimated 
or  confirmed: 

''For  if,  afterwards,  there  should  be  a  purpose 
or  desire  to  wrong  them  [the  Separatists],  though 
they  had  a  seal  as  broad  as  the  house  floor,  it  would 
not  serve  the  turn;  for  there  would  be  means 
enough  found  to  recall  or  reverse  it.  And  seeing 
therefore  the  course  was  probable,  they  must  rest 
herein  on  God's  Providence,  as  they  had  done  in 
other  things.'' 

A  long  time  was  consumed  in  the  settling  of 
these  contrary  opinions  in  Leyden.  It  was  not 
until  early  in  1619  that  Brewster  and  Cushman 
were  sent  to  England  to  proceed  with  the  Vir- 
ginia Company  and  close  also  with  the  merchants 
who  were  to  furnish  or  "adventure"  the  money 
for  the  ships  and  supplies.  They  found  the  Com- 
pany in  a  hopeless  WTangle.  A  patent  was  granted, 
however,  June  19,  1619.  But  the  long  delays  had 
disappointed  their  friends  as  well  as  themselves; 


THE  MOVEMENT  TO  AMERICA  235 

the  merchants  were  no  longer  ready  with  their 
means.  This  patent  never  was  used,  for  the  Vir- 
ginia Com])any  was  unable  to  lend  any  financial 
aid,  and  this  was  absolutely  necessary  to  the  Ley- 
den  brethren. 

It  was  early  in  the  year  1620  that  the  I.eyden 
church,  evidently  discouraged  at  the  seeming 
failure  of  their  efforts  in  England,  turned  to  the 
directors  of  the  Dutch  New  Netherland  Company 
for  help.  On  the  Uth  of  April,  1620,  the  States 
General  rejected  a  petition  of  these  directors, 
dated  February  12,  1620,  a  paragraph  of  which 
refers  to  this  action  of  the  Leyden  men.  It  is  as 
follow^s: 

"Now  it  happens  that  there  is  residing  at  Ley- 
den a  certain  English  Preacher,  versed  in  the 
Dutch  language,  who  is  well  inclined  to  proceed 
thither  to  live:  assuring  the  Petitioners  that  he 
has  the  means  of  inducing  over  four  hundred  fam- 
ilies to  accompany  him  thither,  both  out  of  this 
country  and  England.  Provided  they  would  be 
guarded  and  preserved  from  all  violence  on  the 
part  of  other  potentates,  by  the  authority  and 
under  the  protection  of  your  Princely  Excellency 
and  the  High  and  Mighty  Lords  States  General, 
in  the  propagation  of  the  true  pure  Christian 
religion,  in  the  instruction  of  the  Indians  in  that 
country  in  true  learning,  and  in  converting  them 
to  the  Christian    faith:   and   thus,   through    the 


236  JOHN  ROBINSON 

mercy  of  the  Lord,  to  the  greater  glory  of  this 
country,  to  plant  there  a  new  Commonwealth.''^ 

The  directors  petitioned  that  "the  aforesaid 
Minister/'  in  whom  we  recognize  Robinson,  to- 
gether with  the  families  who  were  ready  to  follow 
him,  be  taken  under  Dutch  protection  and  that 
two  ships  be  sent  to  secure  for  that  country  the 
New  Netherland,  between  New  France  and  Vir- 
ginia. 

The  petition  was  rejected,  but  another  series 
of  negotiations  v/as  begun  with  the  Dutch  imme- 
diately. This,  however,  was  broken  off  by  Rob- 
inson before  April  11,  1620,  at  the  request  of  a 
London  merchant,  Mr.  Thomas  Weston,  to  whose 
counsel  Robinson  took  heed.  ^  Weston  had 
known  the  members  of  the  Leyden  congregation 
before,  and  now,  after  conferring  with  Robinson  ^ 
and  other  influential  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion, he  persuaded  them  to  go  on  with  their 
plans,  leaving  the  Dutch  and  depending  upon  the 
Virginia  Company. 

The  details  of  the  plan  at  length  agreed  upon 
need  not  concern  us  noAV.  There  were  many 
vexations,  uncertainties  and  trials  attending  the 
organization  of  the  movement,  but  the  resolution 

^  Arber,  "  The  Story,"  etc.,  pp.  297,  298. 

^  See  Robinson's  letter  to  Carver,  in  Arber,  "The  Story,"  etc.,  p.  317. 

s  Bradford,  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  p.  54. 


THE  MOVEMENT   TO  AMERICA  237 

of  the  church  was  carried  out  in  s{)ite  of  all  tliese. 
That  final  resolution  was  made  at  the  close  of  a 
public  fast,  when  it  was  decided:  that  the  younger 
and  stronger,  volunteers  only,  should  go  first, 
and  the  remainder  stay  behind;  that  if  the  major- 
ity should  volunteer  to  go.  Pastor  Robinson  was 
to  accompany  them;  if  the  minority  went,  Elder 
Brewster  was  to  go;  if  the  enterprise  should  be  a 
success,  then  those  who  went  should  help  the  aged 
and  poor  who  remained  in  Holland  to  come  over 
to  New  England  later. 

The  majority  decided  to  remain,  although  the 
excess  was  only  a  few,  and  therefore  Robinson 
remained  behind  and  Bre waster  went  with  the 
minority.  The  church  was  curiously  divided. 
They  agreed  to  resolve  themselves  into  distinct 
churches,  although  Robinson  w-as  still  their 
pastor,  and  in  case  any  came  from  Holland  to 
America,  or  returned,  they  were  to  be  received 
as  members  of  the  other  body  with  no  letter 
of  dismission  or  commendation  required.  The 
organization  of  the  church  in  this  way  is  quite 
anomalous.  But  the  whole  purpose  was  to  bring 
the  united  company  together  in  the  near  future 
in  the  new  home,  and  this  doubtless  seemed  to 
warrant   so   strange   a   scheme   of   church   order. 

So  the  time  drew  near  for  the  separation  of  the 


238  JOHN  ROBINSON 

little  church.  Winslow  and  Bradford  describe 
the  last  meeting  at  Leyden  on  the  evening  of 
July  30,  1620.  It  was  a  day  of  great  joy  and 
sadness  alike.  Winslow  says  that  those  who  were 
to  remain  in  Holland  ''feasted  us  that  were  to 
go,  at  our  Pastor's  house,  [it]  being  large,"  and 
describes  the  effect  of  the  singing  as  "the  sweet- 
est melody  that  ever  mine  ears  heard,"  for  many 
of  the  congregation  were  very  expert  at  music. 
Bradford  speaks  of  the  event  as  ''a  Day  of  Sol- 
emn Humiliation,"  when  Robinson  preached  a 
sermon  which  was  drawn  from  Ezra  8:  21,  and  with 
which  "he  spent  a  good  part  of  the  day  very 
profitably  and  suitable  to  their  present  condition." 

The  next  day,  Friday,  July  31,  1620,  they 
left  Leyden  and,  accompanied  by  the  larger  part 
of  those  who  were  to  remain  behind,  went  to 
Delfshaven,  where  they  were  to  go  on  board  the 
ship  that  was  waiting  for  them.  Here  several 
friends  from  Amsterdam  met  them,  and  they 
spent  the  evening  together.  Robinson  was  still 
with  his  church. 

The  next  morning,  August  1,  they  went  on 
board  the  ship.  Every  moment  was  spent  in 
leave-taking. 

"But  the  tide,  which  stays  for  no  man,  calling 
them  away  that  were  thus  loath  to  depart;  their 


THE  MOVEMENT  TO  AMERICA  239 

Revorond  l^istor,  falling  down  on  his  knoos,  and 
they  all  with  him,  witli  watery  cheeks,  commended 
them,  with  most  fervent  prayers,  to  the  Lord  and 
his  blessing.  And  then,  with  mutual  embraces 
and  many  tears,  they  took  their  leaves  one  of 
another;  which  proved  to  be  the  last  leave  to 
many  of  them."  ^ 

These  closing  scenes  in  the  history  of  the  Leyden 
church,  thus  together  for  the  last  time  on  the  soil 
of  Holland,  have  been  a  favorite  subject  for  the 
imaginative  lover  of  the  story.  Robinson  has  been 
described  as  taking  leave  of  the  members  of  his 
flock  in  different  w^ays  and  places;  but  how^ever 
varied  the  objective  setting  of  the  scene,  one  point 
is  surely  fixed  and  clear.  It  w^as  a  day  of  the 
deepest  significance  to  Robinson  himself.  Years 
afterward  the  memory  of  it  was  clear  to  Bradford. 
It  must  have  been  an  hour  of  anguish  to  Robin- 
son. Here  were  the  strongest  members  of  the 
church  ^vhich  he  had  built  up  and  served,  a  numer- 
ical minority,  indeed,  but  the  very  flower  and 
strength  of  his  congregation,  about  to  leave  him 
and  set  out  upon  a  new  enterprise,  filled  with 
peril.  Aside  from  any  question  of  personal  dis- 
appointment at  the  decision  concerning  himself, 
it  was  a  time  of  inexpressible  sorrow  to  the  heart 
of  the  faithful  pastor.     Bradford's  words  picture 

'  Bi-adford,  "  Of  Plimoth  Plantation. "  p.  73. 


240  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  passionate  grief  of  the  scene  very  plainly. 
That  last  prayer  and  the  concluding  benediction 
were  poured  out  from  a  great,  sympathetic  heart, 
which  had  without  question  intuitively  appre- 
hended to  some  degree  the  suffering  which  did  take 
place  during  the  next  winter  on  the  bleak  slopes 
at  Plymouth.  There  are  few  places  in  all  this 
story  where  the  greatness  and  strength  of  Robin- 
son appear  more  vividly  than  in  this  hour  of  almost 
sacrificial  anguish,  when  he  bade  the  flower  of  his 
church  that  last  farewell  at  Delfshaven. 


XII 
THE  SO-CALLED  "FAREWELL   ADDRESS'' 


CHAPTER  XII 


At  this  point  in  the  narrative  we  must  take  up 
a  detailed  examination  of  that  address  or  ser- 
mon which  Robinson  is  reported  by  Winslow  to 
have  dehvered  to  the  members  of  his  church  who 
were  about  to  depart  for  America.  This  has 
become  the  best  known  utterance  and  episode  in 
the  whole  life  of  Robinson,  on  account  of  the  dis- 
cussion which  has  gathered  around  the  phrase 
"more  light/*'  which  is  used  by  Winslow  in  his 
report. 

The  source  of  our  knowledge  of  the  occasion 
and  the  words  which  Robinson  used  is  in  the 
defense  which  was  made  by  Edward  Winslow^  in 
behalf  of  the  colonies  against  Samuel  Gorton  and 
others,  in  the  year  1646.  The  mission  of  meeting 
the  charges  was  entrusted  to  Winslow  by  the 
colony  in  view  of  the  seriousness  of  the  attack 
which  had  been  made  upon  it.  Two  points  must 
be  kept  clearly  in  view  from  the  outset.  The 
first  is  the  date  of  Winslow 's  book.  It  was  not 
published   until   the    year    1646,   and,    therefore, 

243 


244  JOHl^  ROBINSON 

our  knowledge  of  the  '' Farewell  Address/'  as 
we  will  hereafter  call  it,  comes  from  a  source 
w^hich  bears  a  date  over  twenty-five  years  after 
the  occasion  on  wdiich  it  w^as  delivered.  This 
item  of  time  may  mean  much  or  little,  according 
to  the  reasons  we  may  have  for  believing  that 
there  was  any  special  purpose  for  which  the  Address 
would  have  been  remembered  or  preserved.  The 
second  point  is  this:  Winslow's  book  is  apolo- 
getic in  its  purpose.  It  is  designed  to  meet  seri- 
ous charges  with  sufficient  arguments.  It  is  not 
a  set  of  annals  or  a  history  to  which  we  must  go 
for  our  knowledge  of  the  Address,  but  an  apolo- 
getic treatise  in  the  interests  of  Separatists  ^  in 
which  the  author,  under  a  special  commission, 
replies  to  objections  against  New^  England  which 
prevailed  in  the  mother  country.  There  were 
several  of  these,  among  which  was  this : 

^  The  full  title  of  this  book  is  interesting  enough  to  warrant  its  reprint 
here.  It  is:  HYPOCRISIE  VNMASKED:  By  A  True  Relation  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Governour  and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  against 
Saravel  Gorton,  (and  his  Accomplices),  a  notorious  disturber  of  the  Peace 
and  quiet  of  the  severall  Governments  wherein  he  lived:  With  the  grounds 
and  I'easons  thereof,  examined  and  allowed  by  their  Generall  Court 
holden  at  Boston  in  New  England,  in  November  last,  1646.  Together 
with  a  particular  Answer  to  the  manifold  slanders  and  abominable  false- 
hoods which  are  contained  in  a  Book  written  by  the  said  Gorton,  and  en- 
tituled  Simplicities  Defence  against  Seven-headed  Policy,  (fee.  Discover- 
ing to  the  view  of  all  whose  eyes  are  open,  his  manifold  Blasphemies;  as 
also  the  dangerous  agreement  which  he  and  his  Accomplices  made  with 
ambitious  and  treacherous  Indians,  who  at  the  same  time  were  deeply 
engaged  in  a  desperate  Conspiracy  to  cut  off  all  the  rest  of  the  English  in 


''FAREWELL    AUDRLSS"  245 

"because  (say  they)  the  Church  of  Plymouth, 
which  went  first  from  Ley  den,  were  schismatics, 
Brownists,  rigid  Separatists,  &c.,  having  Mr. 
Robinson  for  their  pastor  who  made  and  to  the 
last  professed  separation  from  other  the  churches 
of  Christ,  (fee.  And  the  rest  of  the  Churches  in 
New  England,  holding  communion  with  that 
church,  are  to  be  reputed  such  as  they  are." 

Against  this  common  false  statement,  Winslow 
advanced  four  counter  arguments.  These  were: 
1.  Robinson's  daily  teaching  in  his  ministry, 
under  which  Winslow  lived  in  Leyden  from  1617 
to  1620,  which  always  was  against  separation  from 
any  of  the  Reformed  churches.  2.  The  ''Apol- 
ogy," published  in  English  and  Latin,  and  easy 
to  be  had  in  either  language  at  that  time 
(1646).  3.  The  common  practice  of  the  Leyden 
church  in  allowing  communion  with  the  Reformed 
churches,  many  instances  of  which  Winslow  gives. 
4.     And,   finally,   the  ''wholesome  counsel"  that 

the  other  Plantations.  Whereunto  is  added  a  Briefe  Narration  (occa- 
sioned by  certain  as!)ersionp)  of  the  true  grounds  or  cause  of  the  first 
Planting  of  New  Englaml ;  the  Preceflent  of  their  Churches  in  the  way  and 
worship  of  God;  their  Communion  with  the  Reformed  Churches;  and 
their  practise  towards  those  that  dissent  from  them  in  matters  of  Religion 
and  Church  Government.  By  EDWARD  WINSLOW.  Psalm  cxx. 
3,  4.  "What  shall  be  given  unto  thee,  or  what  shall  be  done  unto  thee, 
thou  false  tongue?  Sharp  arrows  of  the  mighty,  with  coals  of  juniper. " 
Publi.«hed  by  Authority.  LONDON.  Printed  by  Rich.  Cotes  for  John 
Bellamy  at  the  Three  Golden  I. ion-  in  Cornhill,  neare  the  Royall  Ex- 
change.     1G4G. 


246  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Robinson  gave  to  the  exiles   previous    to    their 
departure,  which    was    proof   positive    that    the 
charge  was  false. 
The  "wholesome  counsel'^  is  quoted  as  follows* 

"In  the  next  place,  for  the  wholesome  counsell 
Mr.  Robinson  gave  that  part  of  the  Church  whereof 
he  was  Pastor,  at  their  departure  from  him  to 
begin  the  great  worke  of  Plantation  in  New  Eng- 
land, amongst  other  wholesome  Instructions  and 
Exhortations,  hee  used  these  expressions,  or  to 
the  same  purpose;  We  are  now  ere  long  to  part 
asunder,  and  the  Lord  knoweth  whether  ever  he 
should  live  to  see  our  faces  again;  but  whether 
the  Lord  had  appointed  it  or  not,  he  charged  us 
before  God  and  his  blessed  Angels,  to  follow  him 
no  further  than  he  followed  Christ.  And  if  God 
should  reveal  an^^thing  to  us  by  any  other  instru- 
ment of  his,  to  be  as  ready  to  receive  it,  as  ever 
we  were  to  receive  any  truth  by  his  Ministry :  For 
he  was  very  confident  the  Lord  had  more  truth 
and  light  yet  to  breake  forth  out  of  his  holy  Word. 
He  took  occasion  also  miserably  to  bewaile  the 
state  and  condition  of  the  Reformed  churches,  who 
were  come  to  a  period  in  Religion,  and  would 
goe  no  further  than  the  instruments  of  their  Refor- 
mation :  As  for  example,  the  Lutherans  they  could 
not  be  drawne  to  goe  beyond  what  Luther  saw, 
for  whatever  part  of  God's  will  he  had  further 
imparted  and  revealed  to  Calvin,  they  will  rather 
die  than  embrace  it.  And  so  also,  saith  he,  you 
see  the  Calvinists,  they  stick  v/here  he  left  them; 


"  FAREWELL   ADDRESS  "  247 

A  misery  much  to  bee  lamented;  For  though  they 
were  precious  shining  Hghts  in  their  time,  yet  God 
had  not  revealed  his  whole  will  to  them :  And  were 
they  now  living,  saith  hee,  they  would  bee  as 
ready  and  willing  to  embrace  further  light,  as 
that  they  had  received.  Here  also  he  put  us  in 
mind  of  our  Church-Covenant  (at  least  that  part 
of  it)  whereby  wee  promise  and  covenant  with 
God  and  one  with  another,  to  receive  whatsoever 
light  or  truth  shall  be  made  known  to  us  from  his 
written  Word:  but  withall  exhorted  us  to  take 
heed  what  we  received  for  truth,  before  we  received 
it.  For,  saith  he,  It  is  not  possible  the  Christian 
world  should  come  so  lately  out  of  such  thick  Anti- 
christian  darknesse,  and  that  full  perfection  of  knowl- 
edge should  hreake  forth  at  once/'^ 

This  is  the  original  and  the  only  source  of  our 
knowledge  of  the  words  of  Robinson  which  com- 
pose the  Farewell  Address.  All  other  reports  go 
back  to  this,  ^  and  the  discussion  of  the  trust- 
worthiness of  our  knowledge  of  the  Address  is 
concerned  solely  with  Winslow's  report. 

As  to  the  time  when  the  Farew^ell  Address  was 
delivered,  we  cannot  determine  precisely.  There 
were  several  fasts  held  by  the  church  in  connection 
with  the  emigration.     One  was  at  the  time  when 

'  See  Young's  "Chronicles,"  1841,  p.  396.  Quoted  in  Dexter  "Con- 
gregationalism as  Seen."  p.  404. 

-Mather,  "Magnalia,"  1:  14.  Neal,  "History  of  N.  E.,"  1:  77. 
Belknap,  "American  Biography,"  2:  172. 


248  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  final  decision  was  made  concerning  the  num- 
ber who  were  to  go.  It  may  have  been  then  that 
Robinson  preached  a  sermon  from  the  text,  ''And 
David's  men  said  vnto  him,  See,  we  be  afrayed 
here  in  Judah,  how  much  more  if  we  come  to  Kei- 
lah  against  the  hoste  of  the  PhiHstims?  Then 
David  asked  counsell  of  the  Lorde  againe.  And 
the  Lorde  answered  him,  and  saide.  Arise,  go 
downe  to  Keilah:  for  I  wil  dehuer  the  PhiUstims 
into  thine  hand."  (1  Sam.  xxiii.  3,  4.  Genevan 
Version.) 

It  seems  less  probable,  however,  that  the  Ad- 
dress belongs  here  than  that  it  was  a  part  of  some 
later  sermon.  The  words  "we  are  now  ere  long 
to  part  asunder,"  would  seem  to  indicate  an  event 
near  the  embarkation,  either  the  farewell  feast  at 
Robinson's  house  in  Ley  den,  or  the  leave-taking 
at  Delfshaven  before  the  embarkation  of  those  who 
were  to  sail  for  America.  The  more  probable  of 
these  two  occasions  is  the  former,  since  the  final 
meeting  at  Delfshaven  seems  to  have  been  a  short 
one,  and  chiefly  occupied  by  Robinson's  prayer. 
Therefore  this  w^holesome  counsel  may  have  been  a 
part  of  the  sermon  which  Robinson  preached  from 
the  text,  ''And  there  at  the  Riuer,  by  Ahaua,  I 
proclaymed  a  fast,  that  we  might  humble  ourselue^ 
before  our  God,  and  seeke  of  him  a  ryght  w^ay  for 


"FAREWELL    ADDRESS"  249 

vs,  aiul  for  our  children,  and  for  all  our  substance." 
(Ezra  8:21.     Genevan  \>rsion.) 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  doubt  entertained 
concerning  the  rehable  character  of  Winslow's 
report  until  George  Sumner  pubHshed  a  note  on 
the  matter  at  the  close  of  his  ''  Memoirs  of  the  Pil- 
grims at  Lej^den."^  Sumner  did  not  deem  the 
evidence  sufficient  to  warrant  him  in  branding 
Winslow's  report  as  false;  but  the  whole  report 
seemed  to  him  somewhat  open  to  question.  For 
Winslow,  he  pointed  out,  gives  the  report  freely, 
after  a  lapse  of  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  years, 
and  there  is  no  other  report  of  the  discourse  to  be 
found  anyw^here.  The  pages  of  Bradford,  con- 
temporary controversy,  and  the  records  of  the 
Leyden-Plymouth  church  are  alike  silent  in  the 
matter.  Winslow  does  not  say  whether  his  report 
of  the  wholesome  counsel  is  from  notes,  or  whether 
he  is  simply  recording  a  memory. 

But  there  is  no  special  reason  why  this  discourse 
should  have  been  copied  into  the  church  records 
or  accurately  reported  from  notes,  unless  there 
was  something  startling  or  peculiar  in  it.  It  re- 
quires no  special  feat  of  memory  for  a  man  who 
had  been  for  three  years  a  listener  to  a  person's 
preaching,   to  give  a  rolial)le  report,   even  after 

'  See  "Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  Series  3,  Vol.  ix,  pp.  70,  71. 


250  JOHN  ROBINSON 

twenty-six  years,  of  an  address  which  was  sig- 
nificant at  the  time  only  because  it  emphasized 
with  unusual  clearness  something  which  had  been 
all  the  while  central  and  explicit  in  the  preacher's 
thought  and  practice. 

Hence  we  are  driven  back  to  the  matter  of  inter- 
nal evidence.  And  here  we  find  that  there  is 
nothing  novel  in  the  subject  matter  of  the  report 
which  Winslow  gives.  There  are  parallels  to  every 
statement  of  the  Farewell  Address  in  the  writings 
of  Robinson.  One  who  never  had  read  the  sources 
might  be  surprised  at  Winslow 's  report,  but  one 
who  knows  Robinson  intimately  is  not.  Here  is 
no  foreign  note;  here  is  no  surprise.  The  Farewell 
Address  is  precisely  what  we  should  expect  to  find. 
The  fact  that  it  appears  in  a  report,  informally 
given  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  event,  does 
not  awaken  susj^icion  as  to  its  genuineness  in  the 
mind  of  one  who  has  read  thoroughly  the  preserved 
writings  of  Robinson.  We  are  confident  that  Rob- 
inson is  correctly  reported  for  substance  of  doc- 
trine by  Winslow. 

The  central  point  in  the  whole  Address  is  the 
m^atter  of  '^more  light,  ^'  v/hich  Robinson  felt  sure 
was  yet  to  break  forth  from  the  Bible.  To  v\^hat 
did  he  refer?  This  brings  us  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  Farewell  Address,  and  we  must  begin  at 


"FAREWELL    ADDRESS'  251 

once  by  takinp;  up  the  most  significant  one  ever 
attempted.  This  was  by  Dr.  Henry  Martyn  Dex- 
ter. ^  His  purpose  was  polemic.  This  is  per- 
fectly evident  from  the  way  in  which  he  implies 
an  antagonist  throughout  his  discussion.  He  says, 
Robinson  "has  been  persistently  put  wrong  by 
those  who,  never  having  much  studied  his  writ- 
ings and  unfamiliar  with  the  real  judgment,  doc- 
trine and  spirit  of  the  man,  have  interpreted  him 
too  much  in  the  light  of  their  own  temper  and 
times,  and  too  little  in  that  of  those  which  were 
actual  with  him."  And  "it  is  impossible  that  he 
should  have  spoken  to  the  Plymouth  men  in  the 
sense  in  which  he  has  been  commonly  reputed 
to  have  spoken.  Nothing  short  of  insanity  could 
have  made  him  teach  after  the  fashion  of  the  self- 
styled  ^advanced  thinkers'  of  to-day." 

Dr.  Dexter  seeks  to  show  that  there  was  in  Rob- 
inson "a  habit  of  mind  irreconcilably  at  variance 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  modern  ration- 
alism.'' He  also  speaks  of  "that  high  pedestal 
whereon  the  late  generations  —  and  more  especially 
the  heterodox  among  them  —  have  delighted  to 
exalt  him  as  the  apostle  of  a  thought  so  ])rogres- 
sive  as  to  be  quite  out  of  sight  of  his  own  time,  and 
the  prophet  of  a  liberalism  having  unlimited  capac- 
ity to  'embrace  further  light.'  " 

*  "Congregationalism  a.s  Seen."  pp.  400-410. 


252  JOHN  ROBINSON 

From  these  quotations  it  will  be  seen  at  once 
that  Dr.  Dexter 's  purpose  in  his  critical  examina- 
tion of  the  Farewell  Address  is  to  meet  the  claim 
made  by  the  Unitarian  and  liberal  theologians 
of  the  past  century,  that  Robinson  was  an  early 
prophet  of  their  temper  and  progress  in  matters  of 
doctrine.  This  was  a  claim  which  a  man  of  Dr. 
Dexter 's  tem.per  would  not  brook  without  protest, 
and  this  protest  takes  shape  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  Address  which  we  will  now  proceed  to 
examine. 

The  interpretation  itself  has  met  both  favor 
and  discredit.  Dr.  Dexter  was  a  scholar  of  such 
large  resource  that  he  carried  great  weight  in  such 
an  argument  as  he  here  presents.  That  argument 
has  been  vrelcomed  by  some  who  are  distressed 
to  hear  Robinson  claimed  by  so-called  '^ liberals"; 
by  others,  and  now  probably  by  the  large  majority, 
irrespective  of  class  or  label,  the  interpretation 
has  been  rejected.  But  we  do  not  know^  where  Dr. 
Dexter 's  interpretation  has  itself  been  subjected 
to  a  critical  examination.  And  this  must  be  done 
before  it  is  possible  to  maintain  any  ground. 

Let  us  go  over  Dr.  Dexter 's  argument. 

His  first  attempt  is  to  show  that  John  Robin- 
son was  a  defender  of  the  creed  of  the  Synod  of 
Dort,  both  as  regards  the  general  theological  posi- 


"FAREWELL    ADDRESS"  253 

tions  maintained  l)y  that  groat  creed,  and  also  as 
regards  "that  animus  of  infalhbility  and  inex- 
posure  to  essential  future  mochfication  in  which  it 
held  them"  [i.  e.  those  positions].  Here  wc  must 
keep  two  points  in  mind.  The  first  is  the  body 
of  doctrine  itself;  the  second  is  its  ''animus  of 
infallibihty." 

That  Robinson  was  in  hearty  agreement  with 
the  doctrine,  his  "Defence"  bears  abundant  wit- 
ness. It  is  a  whole-hearted  championship  of  the 
articles.  But  that  he  anywhere  sanctioned  the 
''animus  of  infallibility,"  or  that  he  recognized 
such  an  "animus"  to  exist  is  utterly  without  war- 
rant from  any  statement  contained  in  the  treatise 
just  mentioned. 

Dr.  Dexter  does  not  seek  to  prove  his  point  from 
the  "Defence,"  but  turns  to  Robinson's  "Essays" 
in  order  to  display  there  the  signs  of  a  habit  of 
mind  which  would  lead  us  to  feel  sure  that  Rob- 
inson never  held  the  possibility  of  progress  in  doc- 
trine, although  he  might  grant  such  a  possibility 
in  respect  to  polity. 

Just  here  we  must  make  one  clear  distinction 
and  insist  that  it  be  held.  There  is  a  difference 
between  the  final  and  compl'ite  authoricy  of  the 
Scriptures  per  sc,  and  the  perfect  and  imcha'jge- 
able   authority   of  human   comprehension   of  the 


254  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Scriptures.  That  difference  was  recognized  by 
John  Robinson.  Yv^hen  we  assert  it,  we  are  not 
putting  into  his  mind  a  modern  distinction  of 
which  he  was  ignorant.  We  find  it  on  page  after 
page  of  his  writings. 

Dr.  Dexter  is  quite  right  in  bringing  the  quota- 
tions vv'hich  he  does  from  the  ''Essays"  to  show 
that  Robinson  beUeved  that  the  Scriptures  "  carry 
their  authoritie  in  their  7nouthes.'^  Robinson  most 
surely  holds  that  ''Divine  Authoritie  is  to  sway 
with  us  above  all  Reason:  yea  Reason  teacheth 
that  God  is  both  to  be  beleeved  and  obeyed  in  the 
things  for  wdiich  man  can  see  no  Reason.^' 

But  no  quotation  brought  by  Dr.  Dexter  touches 
the  question  as  to  whether  there  might  not  be  a 
legitimate  place  for  reason  in  the  search  for 
authority,  or  whether  there  might  not  be  a  pro- 
gressive and  enlarging  grasp  of  divine  truth  itself. 
The  fact  that  nothing  of  the  sort  is  advanced  by 
Dr.  Dexter  compels  us  to  go  to  Robinson's  writ- 
ings to  see  if  such  c^uotations  may  not  be  found. 
And  we  do  not  need  to  seek  far.  In  the  very 
essay,  "Of  Authority  and  Reason,"  from  which 
Dr.  Dexter  quotes  to  justify  his  contention,  we 
find  this  explicit  statement  by  Robinson :  ^ 

"The  custom  of  the  Church  is  but  the  custom 

^  "Essays"  in  Works,  1:  56. 


"FAREWELL  ADDRESS"  25.-) 

of  men:  the  sentence  of  the  fatliors  but  the  opin- 
ion of  men:  the  determination  of  councils  but  the 
judgments  of  men,  what  men  soever.  And  so,  if 
all  men  in  the  world,  not  immediately  directed, 
as  were  extraordinary  prophets,  and  apostles,  in 
whom  the  ^\)m{  spake  and  testified  by  them, 
should  consent  in  one,  as  they,  notwithstanding 
their  multitude,  were  but  men,  though  many,  so 
w^as  their  testimony  but  human,  though  of  many 
men;  neither  could  it  challenge  any  other  than 
human  assent  unto  it:  and  not  that  neither  [i.  e. 
either]  absolutely,  either  in  matters  of  discourse 
of  reason,  wherein  it  is  possible  that  men  should 
deceive  themselves;  or  of  relation  from  others, 
by  whom  they  may  be  deceived.  We  are  there- 
fore to  beware  that  we  neither  wrong  ourselves 
by  credulity,  nor  others  by  unjust  suspicion." 

This  would  surely  seem  to  settle  once  for  all 
Robinson's  acceptance  of  ''the  animus  of  infal- 
Hbility"  which  went  wdth  the  decrees  of  the  Dort 
Council.  But  let  us  supplement  this  by  another 
quotation.  In  his  "Justification  of  Separation," 
he  says: 

"  But  on  the  other  side  [that  is,  instead  of  giving 
great  weight  to  the  opinions  of  other  men  in  every 
matter]  for  a  man  so  far  to  suffer  his  thoughts  to 
be  conjured  into  the  circle  of  any  mortal  man  or 
men's  judgment,  as  either  to  fear  to  try  what  is 
offered  to  the  contrary,  in  the  balance  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, or  finding  it  to  bear  weight,  to  fear  to  give 


258  JOHN  ROBINSON 

sentence  on  the  Lord's  side,  yea  though  it  be 
against  the  mighty,  this  is  to  honour  men  above 
God,  and  to  advance  a  throne  above  the  throne  of 
Christ,  who  is  Lord  and  King  forever.  And  to 
speak  that  in  this  case,  which  by  doleful  experience 
I  myself  have  found,  many  of  the  most  forward 
professors  in  the  Kingdom  are  well  nigh  as  super- 
stitiously  addicted  to  the  determinations  of  their 
guides  and  teachers,  as  the  ignorant  papists  unto 
theirs,  accounting  it  not  only  needless  curiosity, 
but  even  intolerable  arrogancy,  to  call  into  ques- 
tion the  things  received  from  them  by  tradition."  ^ 

Before  making  a  deduction  from  these  c[uota- 
tions,  it  will  be  well  to  recall  the  fact  that  Robin- 
son himself  bears  witness  to  the  bondage  in  which 
he  was  held  for  a  long  time  to  the  opinions  of  men 
more  learned  than  himself.  His  utterances  just 
quoted  grew  out  of  his  own  experience. 

From  the  above  it  cannot  fail  to  be  obvious 
that,  while  Robinson  insisted  upon  the  Scripture 
as  the  final  authority  in  all  matters  of  both  doctrine 
and  polity,  he  did  not  hold  that  the  decrees  of  any 
council  were  infallible.  Nor  do  we  find  that  there 
is  the  least  warrant  for  Dr.  Dexter 's  preliminary 
proposition  that  the  ''  ethical  and  theological  posi- 
tion of  Mr.  Robinson's  mind"  rendered  it  inca- 
pable of  receiving  "more  light"  in  matters  of 
doctrine. 

1  Works,  2:52. 


"  FAREWELL    ADDRESS  "  257 

Instead  of  this,  the  presumption  would  seem 
to  be  sufficiently  clear  that  the  lieart  and  mind  of 
Robinson  were  o])en  to  all  light  from  all  sources 
shed  from  or  upon  the  final  authority,  the  Word 
of  God. 

When  Dr.  Dexter  j^asses  to  the  specific  argu- 
ment drawn  from  the  purpose  which  the  Farewell 
Address  serves  in  Winslow's  "Hypocrisie  Un- 
masked," there  can  be  no  question  of  the  fact  that 
he  establishes  his  contention.  It  is  in  an  argu- 
ment concerning  the  polity  and  not  concerning 
the  doctrine  of  the  Lej^den  church  that  Winslow 
introduces  his  report  of  the  Address.  Dr.  Dexter 
argues  with  his  usual  command  of  convincing 
logic,  and  the  point  is  well  taken.  But  suppose 
it  is  made.  And  suppose  we  grant  the  force  of  an 
argument,  from  the  specific  setting  of  the  Address 
as  it  is  reported  to  us,  which  ''makes  polity  and 
not  dogma  the  key-note  of  this  still  noble  farewell. " 
Have  we  thereby  proved  that  our  presumptions 
are  quite  unwarranted  by  the  facts,  and  that 
Robinson  was  a  man  unable  to  see  farther  in  mat- 
ters of  doctrine,  however  liberal  he  might  have 
been  in  matters  of  polity?  Not  in  the  least.  We 
cannot  reach  such  a  conclusion  until  we  look  at 
the  place  in  his  whole  teaching  which  this  idea  of 
''more  light"  occupied. 


258  JOHN  ROBINSON 

We  must  observe  that  the  idea  is  not  pecuUar 
to  Robinson  among  the  Separatists,  although  in 
him  it  reaches  its  most  frequent  use  and  best  illus- 
tration. Bradford  says  that  "  the  light  of  ye  word 
of  God^'  was  the  means  by  which  the  zealous  con- 
verts to  the  preaching  of  the  faithful  Puritan  pas- 
tors were  led  to  their  final  position  as  Separatists. 

The  same  idea  lay  embedded  in  the  very  cen- 
ter of  the  first  simple  covenants  by  virtue  of 
which  the  Separatists  came  into  organic  union  as 
churches.  The  covenant  was  supremely  impor- 
tant with  them.  They  did  not  insist  upon  any 
tests  of  creed.  They  were  able  to  take  doctrinal 
soundness  for  granted  on  the  part  of  all  those 
who  sought  their  fellowship.  The  covenant  was 
made  the  instrument  by  which  they  united.  Its 
terms  were  perfectly  clear.  As  the  Lord's  free 
people  they  joined  themselves  by  a  covenant 
with  the  Lord  into  a  church  of  gospel  fellow^ship, 
pledging  themselves  to  walk  in  all  God's  ways, 
made  known  or  to  be  made  known  unto  them.^ 
The  covenant  of  Henry  Jacob 's  church,  organized 
in  1616  in  London,  which  probably  represents 
Robinson's  teaching  with  complete  fidelity,  was 
''to  walk  together  in  all  God's  ways  and  ordi- 
nances, according  as  he  had  already  revealed,  or 

>:Bradford,  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  p.  13. 


"  FA RKWKJ. L    . \  I) DRESS "  259 

should  further  make  thcni  known  to  Ihcni.''^ 
It  is  a  pretty  large  assumption  to  claim  that  all 
these  expressions  of  the  possibility  of  more 
knowledge  of  divine  truth  to  come  in  the  future 
can  apply  only  to  matters  of  church  order.  In 
the  words  of  the  Farewell  Address  Robinson  is 
simply  recalling  his  hearers  to  the  terms  and 
to  the  anticipations  of  their  own  sacred  cove- 
nants. It  is  exactly  the  sort  of  counsel  that  we 
expect  from  a  pastor  to  a  people  united  in  such 
covenants  as  those  just  referred  to. 

We  turn  now^  to  certain  definite  statements  from 
Robinson's  own  writings  for  a  closer  view  of  his 
general  teaching. 

In  his  first  controversy  with  Hall,  he  says: 

"We  do  freely,  and  with  all  thankfulness,  ac- 
knowledge every  good  thing  she  [the  Church  of 
England]  hath,  and  wdiich  ourselves  have  there 
received.  .  .  .  But  what  then?  Should  we  still 
have  continued  in  sin,  that  grace  might  have 
abounded?  If  God  have  caused  a  further  truth, 
like  a  light  in  a  dark  place,  to  shine  in  our  hearts, 
should  we  still  have  mingled  that  light  with  dark- 
ness, contrary  to  the  Lord's  own  practice  (Gen. 
i.  4)  and  express  precept  (2  Cor.  vi.  14)?  "  - 

In    the    controversy   with    Bernard,    Robinson 

'  Walker,  "Creeds  an<l  Platforms."  p.  IIG. 
*  Works,  3:407. 


260  JOHN  ROBINSON 

tells  how  he  studied  the  arguments  for  the  Sep- 
aration as  based  upon  the  Scriptures,  "and  by 
searching  found  much  light  of  truth."  He  did 
not  follow  it  immediately,  however,  because  his 
respect  for  the  opinions  of  men  whom  he  deemed 
wiser  than  himself  was  so  great  that  he  almost 
"suffered  the  light  of  God  to  have  been  put  out 
.  .  .  by  other  men's  darkness."^  It  is  impos- 
sible to  confine  this  illumination  to  doctrine  as 
over  against  polity.  Indeed,  there  was  no  such 
distinction  possible  in  the  mind  of  Robinson.  We 
make  the  distinction  between  creed  and  polity 
very  easily.  John  Robinson  did  not  make  that 
distinction.  To  him  polity  was  a  part  of  doctrine ; 
the  order  of  the  true  church  was  an  object  of  faith. 
Polity  was  not  something  of  incidental  value; 
it  was  essential  to  the  body  of  true  Christian 
doctrine.  God  had  revealed  in  his  Testament  a 
form  for  the  Church,  which  was  an  essential  part 
of  the  whole  revelation  of  salvation.  We  have 
no  right  to  make  a  distinction  for  Robinson 
which  he  never  w^ould  have  made  for  himself. 

Let  us  turn  to  a  later  controversy,  represented 
by  his  book  "Of  Religious  Communion."  In  it 
he  says : 

"  I  profess  myself  always  one  of  them,  who  still 

1  Works,  2:  52. 


"FAREWELL    ADDRESS"  261 

desire  to  learn  further,  or  better,  what  the  good 
will  of  God  is.  And  I  beseech  the  Lord  from 
mine  heart,  that  there  may  be  in  the  men  (to- 
wards whom  I  desire  in  all  things  lawful  to  enlarge 
myself)  the  like  readiness  of  mind  to  forsake  every 
evil  way,  and  faithfully  to  embrace  and  walk  in 
the  truth  they  do,  or  may  see,  as  by  the  mercy  of 
God,  there  is  in  me;  which  as  I  trust  it  shall  be 
mine,  so  do  I  wish  it  may  be  their  comfort  also  in 
the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  ^ 

We  will  take  only  one  more  illustration.  This 
is  from  the  last  years  of  his  life  on  earth: 

"  We  ought  to  be  firmly  persuaded  in  our  hearts 
of  the  truth,  and  goodness  of  the  religion  which 
w^e  profess  in  all  things;  yet  as  knowing  ourselves 
to  be  men,  whose  property  it  is  to  err  and  to  be 
deceived  in  many  things;  and  accordingly  both 
to  converse  with  men  in  that  modesty  of  mind, 
as  always  to  desire  to  learn  something  better,  or 
further,  by  them,  if  it  may  be;  as  also  to  beg  at 
God's  hands  the  pardon  of  our  errors  (Psa.  xix. 
12)  and  aberrations,  which  may  be,  and  are  secret 
in  us,  and  we  not  aware  thereof."^ 

Now,  in  the  light  of  these  expressions,  we  are 
bound  to  interpret  the  Farewell  Address.  With- 
out question  Robinson's  great  concern  always 
was  with  polity  rather  than  with  dogma.  But 
to  conclude  that  therefore  he  was  a  man  with  a 

'  Works,  3:  103. 
-Ibid.,  1:39. 


262  JOHN  ROBINSON 

mind  not  open  toward  the  truth  as  to  theological 
doctrine  is  a  wholly  unwarranted  position.  We 
must  consent  to  regard  him  as  possessing  a  mind 
of  more  consistency  than  that.  The  man  who 
said,  ^'Whatsoever  truth  is  in  the  world,  it  is 
from  God,  by  what  hand  soever  it  be  reached 
unto  us"  was  not  a  lover  of  light  in  church  polity 
and  a  sympathizer  with  the  '^  animus  of  infalli- 
bility'' in  doctrine.  Dr.  Dexter 's  interpretation 
of  the  Farewell  Address  is  inadequate.  Wintlow 
used  the  Address  for  an  apologetic  purpose,  and 
its  meaning  was  undoubtedly  limited  for  that 
occasion  to  that  purpose.  Dr.  Dexter,  provoked 
by  a  too  hasty  appropriation  of  Robinson  by  the 
liberals,  has  interpreted  the  Farewell  Address 
in  a  case  of  special  pleading  for  a  polemic  purpose. 
Neither  Dr.  Dexter  nor  Governor  Winslow  has 
set  the  Farewell  into  the  body  of  Robinson's 
larger  teaching.  This  we  have  endeavored  to  do. 
And  we  have  found  that  ''more  light"  does  rep- 
resent the  whole  man,  John  Robinson.  What  posi- 
tion he  would  have  held  in  doctrinal  matters  had 
he  lived  in  another  age  we  do  not  know.  It  would 
be  folly  to  guess.  But  the  temper  of  the  great 
Congregationalist  was  that  of  a  seeker  after  the 
light  of  truth  in  every  department  of  its  revela- 
tion.    The  tendency  of  his  age  directed  his  grow^th 


"FAREWELL   ADDRESS"  203 

in  the  practical  ratluM'  than  the  dogmatic  Urie. 
But  he  was  preeminently  and  consistently  a  man 
of  open,  hospitable  spirit  to  all  truth  by  whatever 
hand  reached  to  him  or  through  whatever  light 
revealed. 

This  always  has  been  the  conviction  of  the  hearts 
of  Congregationalists.  Dr.  Dexter 's  interpreta- 
tion was  maintained  with  all  the  power  of  his 
masterful  mind,  and  it  swayed  the  head  by  its 
logic  against  what  the  heart  felt  to  be  true.  This 
examination  of  the  matter  warrants  the  expec- 
tation that  the  head  and  heart  may  consent  in  a 
judgment  which  restores  Robinson  to  his  rightful 
place  in  the  history  of  the  Congregational  churches. 


XIII 

THE  ESSAYS 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    ESSAYS 

It  would  be  impossible  to  form  a  correct  im- 
pression of  John  Robinson's  personality  from  a 
study  of  his  practical  enterprises,  his  controver- 
sies and  his  friendships  alone.  There  is  another 
source  from  which  it  is  a  pleasant  task  to  draw. 
In  1625  there  were  published  two  editions  of  a 
volume  entitled,  "  Observations  Divine  and  Moral, 
Collected  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  Ancient  and 
Modern  Writers,  both  divine  and  human;  as  also 
out  of  the  Great  Volume  of  Men's  Manners:  tend- 
ing to  the  Furtherance  of  Knowledge  and  Virtue. 
By  John  Robinson."  The  same  book  was  after- 
ward published,  under  different  titles,  in  1628, 
1638,  1642  and  1654.  The  last  edition  did  not 
bear  Robinson's  name,  but  was  put  forth  as  ''by  a 
Student  in  Thoologie."  The  edition  used  in  Robin- 
son's collected  works  is  that  of  162S.  It  occupies 
pages  1  to  259  in  the  first  volume,  from  which  the 
citations  in  this  chapter  will  be  made.  The  title 
here  is  "New  Essays,  or  Observations,"  etc.  The 
work  is  best  known  as  the  ''Essays."     They  repre- 

267 


268  JOHN  ROBINSON 

sent  the  ripe  results  of  Robinson's  careful  obser- 
vations, summed  up  and  reasoned  upon  during 
the  last  years  of  his  life  in  Leyden.  They  are, 
therefore,  the  result  of  his  mature  thought  in  the 
very  prime  of  his  life.  And,  if  we  are  to  judge 
from  the  number  of  editions  put  out,  this  is  alto- 
gether his  most  significant  book  in  regard  to  its 
literary  value.  It  can  hardly  be  classed  with  his 
other  writings.  It  is  wholly  different  in  purpose. 
It  reveals  its  author  in  a  new  light. 

In  the  preface  to  the  volume,  Robinson  gives 
us  a  clear  view  of  that  which  he  regarded  as  the 
sources  of  human  knowledge.  First  of  all  came 
the  Holy  Scriptures;  next,  the  great  literature  of 
all  ages  and  the  utterances  of  the  great  men  of 
the  time,  which  Robinson  had  read  or  heard  and 
then  '^stored  up  as  a  precious  treasure,"  not  only 
for  his  own  good  but  also  for  the  good  of  others; 
and,  finally,  he  studied  the  ''great  volume  of 
men's  manners,"  a  wide  acquaintance  with  which 
he  felt  that  he  had  enjoyed  during  the  days  of  his 
pilgrimage. 

''Now  this  kind  of  study  and  meditation,"  he 
says,  "hath  been  unto  me  full  sweet  and  delight- 
ful, and  that  wherein  I  have  often  refreshed  my 
soul  and  spirit,  amide  t  many  sad  and  sorrowful 
thoughts,  unto  which  God  hath  called  me." 


THE    ESSAYS  209 

The  little  preface  to  the  volume  thus  gives  us 
a  view  of  Ro])inson's  mind  and  temper  which  we 
do  not  ol)tain  from  the  sterner  and  narrower 
method  which  he  employed  in  his  controversial 
writinjzis.  Here  we  see  a  really  catholic  mind 
laying  hold  of  all  the  spiritual  riches  of  literature 
and  life,  pondering  them  for  his  own  joy  and  profit, 
and  finally  bringing  out  the  results  of  his  reflec- 
tion set  in  order  in  these  "Observations."  We 
will  taste  his  fruit  here  and  there. 

The  contents  of  the  volume  show  at  once  that 
Robinson  has  a  method  in  the  arrangement  of 
his  matter.  He  starts  with  '^ Man's  knowledge 
of  God,"  follows  through  the  great  attributes  of 
God,  to  the  religious  life  in  its  graces  and  activi- 
ties; then  he  takes  up  the  complex  subject  of 
human  living  and  treats  it  all  from  the  standpoint 
of  religion,  examining  such  commonplace  matters 
as  "Discretion,"  "The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Things," 
"Labour,"  "Society,"  "Friendship,"  "Health," 
"Zeal"  and  "Marriage."  The  whole  is  concluded 
with  an  essay  on  "Death." 

The  fact  that  Robinson  approaches  his  themes 
from  the  standpoint  of  religion  does  not  mean 
that  these  essays  are  sections  of  sermons.  Reli- 
gion, we  shall  find,  is  the  great  fact  about  John 
Robinson  and  the  key  to  the  understanding  of 


270  JOHN  ROBINSON 

his  character.  It  is  true  here.  He  surveys  hfe 
from  the  standpoint  of  its  rehgious  significance. 
The  ''Essays''  are  filled  with  keen  observation, 
great  practical  insight,  a  true  discrimination  of 
values,  and,  with  it  all,  a  breadth,  kindliness  and 
earnestness  of  temper  which  must  make  every 
reader  of  this  old  book  cherish  a  feeling  of  genuine 
admiration  and  real  love  for  the  man  who  wrote  it. 

Let  us  take  a  look  into  the  seventh  essay, 
"Of  Religion,  and  Differences  and  Disputations 
Thereabout. "  John  Robinson  certainly  had  looked 
into  ''the  great  volume  of  men's  manners"  and 
into  their  lack  of  manners  concerning  this  theme. 

Religion,  which  is  natural  to  man,  Robinson 
says,  assumes  its  highest  form  of  truth  in  the 
Christian  system,  which  is  given  by  supernatural 
revelation.  In  this,  God  has  disclosed  not  only 
his  nature,  as  a  w^orthy  object  of  worship,  but  also 
the  manner  in  which  that  worship  is  to  be  carried 
on. 

This  is  an  evidence  of  Robinson's  principles  of 
Separation,  manifested  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
essay.  There  is  a  constant  recurrence  of  this 
fact  even  in  these  papers.  The  writer  is  a  Sepa- 
ratist. In  the  application  of  the  principles  which 
he  held  so  dear,  he  allowed  the  largest  play  for 
the  individual.     He  did  not  think  that  anv  cere- 


THE   ESSAYS  271 

mony  or  ritual  was  of  divine  authorit}-,  although 
God  has  prescribed  the  manner  of  worship  as  well 
as  commanded  its  exercise.  For  the  performance 
of  worship  ''the  general  rules  of  the  Word,  with 
common-sense  and  discretion  are  sufficient." 

The  standard  by  which  a  man's  religion  is  to 
be  estimated  is  not  his  connection  with  any  church. 

''A  man  hath,  in  truth,  so  much  religion,  as  he 
hath  between  the  Lord  and  himself  in  secret,  and 
no  more,  what  shows  soever  he  makes  before 
men.''  ^ 

Robinson's  demands  from  the  religious  man 
are  intensely  practical.  He  put  the  case  in  this 
way: 

''There  are  also  religious  hypocrites  not  a  few, 
who,  because  of  •  a  certain  zeal  which  they  have 
for  and  in  the  duties  of  the  first  table,  repute 
themselves  highly  in  God's  favour,  though  they 
be  far  from  that  innocency  towards  men,  spe- 
cially from  that  goodness  and  love  indeed,  which 
the  Lord  hath  inseparably  joined  with  a  true  reli- 
gious disposition.  Such  persons  vainly  imagine 
God  to  be  like  unto  the  most  great  men,  who,  if 
their  followers  be  obsequious  to  them  in  their 
persons,  and  zealous  for  them  in  the  things,  which 
more  immediately  concern  their  [the  geat  men's] 
honours  and  profits,  do  highly  esteem  of  them; 
though  their  dealings  with  others,  specially  meaner 

'  Page  33. 


272  JOHN  ROBINSON 

men,  be  far  from  honest  or  good.  But  God  is 
not  partial  as  men  are;  nor  regards  that  church 
and  chamber  rehgion  towards  him,  which  is  not 
accompanied,  in  the  house  and  streets,  with  loving- 
kindness  and  mercy  and  all  goodness  towards 
men/'^ 

This  description  of  the  false  conception  of  God 
which  leads  a  formalist  to  think  that  he  can  cheat 
him  is  only  one  of  hundreds  of  similar  homely 
illustrations  of  which  the  "Essays"  are  full.  We 
cannot  be  wrong  in  concluding  that  the  preacher 
who  could  use  these  plain  illustrations  would  have 
power  over  a  congregation  made  up  of  such  men 
as  composed  the  Ley  den  church.  He  speaks  in 
this  same  essay  of  men  who  put  on  religion  as 
they  would  put  on  their  clothes,  simply  because 
to  be  destitute  of  a  religion  is  regarded  in  some 
places  as  shameful.  And  thus  with  plain  illus- 
trations from  common  life  Robinson  always  en- 
forces  his    points. 

With  another  shrewd  observation  Robinson 
now  turns  to  the  matter  of  religious  partisanship. 
When  a  man  embraces  a  religion  he  generally 
sets  himself  very  earnestly  to  advocate  and  ad- 
vance the  special  type  of  faith  which  he  has 
embraced;  and  he  often  seeks  also  to  combat  all 

1  Page  34. 


A 
RELATION 

OF  THE   STATE   OF 

YRel{2^ion:an(imth  ivhat  Hopes  and 

Pollicics  it  hath  bcene  framed,  and  is  maintain 
ned  in  tht  fct'c/all  (I/ites  of  thefe  Tuejtetne 

^        pans  of  the. odd.    J,g^^ 


LONDON, 

Printed  for  Simon  Water  [on  dweL 
ling  in  1^ aulcs  C Imrchyar d at  the 

the  Crownc. 


fignc  oi 


1605 


raoiniil..-  of  tht-  Tillc  I'aKf  of  a  Hook  comaiiiiii);    Kol.inxms  .Wilo.u '  ai)h. 
Hy  Courtesy  of  its  Uwners.  tlic  Tilgrim  Socittv.  of  I'l viuoulh,  Ma>.sac))n>t-ll: 


THE   ESSAYS  273 

other  forms  than  his  own,  ''  though  oft  without 
competent  knowledge  of  one  or  other."  Hence 
arises  the  tendency  to  partisanship  and  religious 
contention. 

Robinson  does  not  wholly  deplore  this.  The 
essentially  conservative  temper  of  the  man  ap- 
pears in  this  statement: 

''Notwithstanding,  we  owe  this  honor  to  the 
particular  courses  of  religion  which  we  have  once 
embraced,  or  wherem  we  have  been  brought  up 
and  received  any  good,  that  we  leave  it  not  lightly; 
nor  further  in  any  particular,  than  we  needs  must; 
nor  at  all  in  the  things  which  God  in  it,  in  true 
and  distinct  consideration,  hath  blessed  to  our 
spiritual  good.  To  be  lightly  moved  in  religion 
is  childish  weakness;  but  to  be  stiff  without  rea- 
son, manly  obstinacy;  and  better  to  be  a  child  in 
weakness,  than  a  man  in  perverse  obstinateness. "  ^ 

This  passage  lets  us  see  at  a  glance  how  deep 
must  have  been  the  convictions  of  Robinson  be- 
fore he  was  induced  to  go  out  of  the  Church  of 
England.  His  temper  is  truly  conservative.  But 
his  conservatism  is  that  of  the  child  who  loves  its 
mother's  arms  and  cleaves  to  her  because  it  loves. 

Robinson's  counsels  in  cases  of  religious  con- 
troversy are  consistent  with  the  methods  which 
we  have  found  him  using  in  all  his  discussions 
''Disputations  in   religion   are    sometimes   neces- 

1  Page  36. 


274  JOHN  ROBINSON 

sary  but  always  dangerous;  drawing  the  best 
spirits  into  the  head  from  the  heart,  and  leaving 
it  empty  of  all,  or  too  full  of  fleshly  zeal  and  pas- 
sion, if  extraordinary  care  be  not  taken  still  to 
supply  and  fill  it  anew  with  pious  affections  to- 
wards God  and  loving  towards  men/' 

And  so  he  urges  that  all  wdio  are  compelled  to 
engage  in  religious  controversy  remember  how 
serious  the  contest  is  and  how  fearful  the  cost  of 
an  error;  that  they  never  make  out  the  cause 
of  an  opponent  to  be  worse  than  it  really  is ;  that 
they  never  give  a  sinister  interpretation  to  his 
motives;  that  they  be  honest  and  preserve  the 
approval  of  a  good  conscience  in  their  debates. 

This  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  a  man  who  was  farthest 
removed  from  the  narrow  ranges  of  religious  par- 
tisanship. And  we  understand  why  Robinson's 
own  work  has  so  much  of  rugged  honesty,  kindly 
tolerance^and  winning  frankness  in  it. 

In  this  essay  there  is  a  bit  of  local  color  which 
shows  us  how  aptly  Robinson  was  able  to  choose 
an  illustration.  His  own  experience  had  been 
pretty  closelj^  concerned  with  the  Merchant  Ad- 
venturers, and  his  people  understood  all  too  w^ell 
how  willing  any  man  was  to  risk  nothing  in  the 
prospect  of  gaining  very  much.  We  can  see  the 
telling  force  as  well  as  the  merry  jest,  therefore, 


THE    ESSAYS  21  Ty 

in  a  turn  like  this:  Religious  disputes  are  under- 
taken by  many  who  are  not  the  least  prepared  for 
them,  either  because  they  think  it  is  a  shame  for 
them  not  to  show  others  how  much  knowledge 
and  zeal  they  have  in  religion,  or  else  ^'because 
they  make  account  in  truth  that  they  venture 
nothing  but  words  in  the  voyage,  and  so  can  have 
no  great  loss."  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  the  apt- 
ness and  force  of  this  illustration  to  the  men  who 
had  been  wrestling  with  the  practical  problems 
of  the  emigration  to  America  and  the  Merchant 
Adventurers.  In  the  following  paragraph,  also, 
Robinson  uses  an  illustration  which  could  not  fail 
to  be  appreciated  by  his  people: 

"I  have  known  divers  that  have  more  lightly 
and  licentiously  changed  their  religion,  and  that 
in  no  small  points,  than  a  sober  man  would  do  the 
fashion  of  his  coat;  and  who,  in  my  conscience, 
if  it  might  but  have  gained  or  saved  them  twelve 
pence,  would  have  held  their  former  religion  still."  ^ 

One  of  the  most  frequent  criticisms  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  of  the  colonists  in  Massachusetts,  is 
that,  however  much  they  may  have  been  zealous 
for  religious  toleration  in  England,  when  they 
were  themselves  masters  they  became  equally  in- 
tolerant of   those  who  differed  from  them.     One 

■  Page  38. 


276  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  the  most  interesting  paragraphs  in  the  essay- 
that  we  are  now  handUng  is  concerned  with  this 
very  point: 

"  Men  are  for  the  most  part  minded  for  or  against 
toleration  of  diversity  of  rehgions,  according  to  the 
conformity  which  they  themselves  hold,  or  hold 
not,  with  the  country  or  kingdom  where  they 
live.  Protestants  Uving  in  the  countries  of  Papists 
commonly  plead  for  toleration  of  religion;  so  do 
Papists  that  live  where  Protestants  bear  sway: 
though  few  of  either,  specially  of  the  clergy,  as 
they  are  called,  would  have  the  other  tolerated, 
where  the  world  goes  on  their  side.  .  .  .  For  con- 
clusion of  this  matter  .  .  .  as  there  is  no  church- 
state  and  profession  so  truly  Christian  and  good, 
in  which  too  many  may  not  be  found  carried  in 
their  persons  with  a  spirit  plainly  antichristian : 
so  there  is  hardly  any  sect  so  antichristian  or 
evil  otherwise  in  church  profession,  in  w^hich 
there  are  not  divers,  truly  though  weakly  led, 
with  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  their  persons,  and  so 
true  members  of  his  mystical  body.  AVith  w^hom 
to  deal  rigorously  for  some  few  aberrations  of 
ignorance  or  infirmity,  were  more  to  please  Christ's 
enemy  than  Christ."^ 

Back  to  such  teaching  as  this  for  its  sanction 
must  be  carried  that  fairer  and  friendlier  attitude 
of  the  Plymouth  Colony  toward  contrary  opinion 
and  practice  in  religious    matters  which    distin- 

i  Page  42. 


THE    ESS  AY. "^  277 

guislicMl  thcni  from  otlior  sections  of  Massachusetts. 
This  spirit  had  been  infused  among  them  by  Rob- 
inson, and  they  could  not  forget  it  in  the  years 
after  his  death. 

We  have  dwelt  longest  upon  this  essay  because 
it  illuminates  so  clearly  the  religious  temper  of  its 
writer.  But  this  is  only  one  of  the  many  sources 
from  which  clear  light  is  thrown  upon  his  person- 
ality. The  little  essay,  ''Of  the  Use  and  Abuse 
of  Things,"  is  of  great  value  for  its  thinly- veiled 
content  of  autobiography.  Our  conception  of 
Robinson  as  an  austere  man  would  be  a  natural 
inference,  no  doubt,  if  we  were  to  judge  him  by 
his  controversial  or  theological  works  alone.  But 
he  believed  that  all  God's  gifts  were  to  be  used. 

"'God,'  saith  the  wise  man,  'hath  made  every- 
thing beautiful  in  his  time':  and  indeed  every- 
thing is  good  for  something:  I  mean  everything 
that  God  has  made."  "A  man  hath  that  most 
and  best  whereof  he  hath  the  lawful  use.  And 
hereupon  a  follower  of  a  great  lord  was  wont  to 
say  that  he  had,  in  effect,  as  much  as  his  lord, 
though  he  were  owner  of  little  or  nothing,  con- 
sidering how  he  had  the  use  of  his  [lord 's]  gardens 
and  galleries  to  walk  in;  heard  his  music  with  as 
many  ears  as  he  did;  hunted  with  him  in  his  parks, 
and  ate  and  drank  of  the  same  that  he  did,  tliough 
a  little  after  him;  and  so  for  the  most  other  delights 
which  his  lord  enjoyed.'' 


278  JOHN  ROBINSON 

But  some  things  are  specially  liable  to  abuse. 

''And  good  things  are  abused  commonly  either 
when  they  are  unmeasurably  used  ...  or  by 
applying  them  unaptly."  "Neither  doth  the 
abuse  of  good  things  so  take  away  or  make  for- 
feiture of  the  use  as  that  the  counsel  of  Lycurgus 
is  to  be  followed,  who  would  have  the  vines  cut 
down  because  men  were  sometimes  drunken  with 
the  grapes.  Yet  may  the  abuse  of  a  thing  be  so 
common  and  notorious,  and  the  use  so  small  or 
needless,  as  better  want  the  small  use  than  be  in 
continual  danger  of  the  great  abuse  of  it.'^  ^ 

This  particular  essay  furnishes  the  soundest 
philosophy  for  the  entire  matter  of  temperance 
in  the  use  of  everything  that  ministers  to  physical 
pleasure.  Robinson  shows  how  the  best  things 
in  the  world  become  the  very  worst  when  they 
are  perverted  in  their  right  use,  and  are  therefore 
to  be  used  with  the  greatest  caution;  ''otherwise 
we  shall  be  liable  to  the  curse  of  a  greater  than 
Aristippus,  who  wished  a  plague  upon  those  wan- 
tons who,  by  abusing  it,  had  defamed  a  certain 
sweet  ointment  wherein  he  took  delight."  "All 
evil  stands  in  the  abuse  of  the  good,"  Robinson 
believed.  The  greatest  abuse  to  which  things  are 
subjected  is  in  their  intemperate  use,  "as  it  is 
said  of  wine,  that  the  first  cup  quenches  thirst, 

1  Page  121. 


THE   ESSAYS  270 

the  second  produces  cheerfulness,  the  third,  drunk- 
enness, and  the  fourth,  madness."  The  best 
things  in  the  world  ''we  must  not  therefore  super- 
stitiously  disavow,  or  cease  to  account  the  best, 
as  they  are;  but  we  must  thereby  be  warned  to  use 
them  the  more  warily,  that  we  may  enjoy  their 
full  goodness  and  not  prejudice  them  by  abuse." 

It  is  quite  common  to  regard  the  Puritan  as  a 
person  who  relegated  all  the  brightest  and  most 
cheerful  influences  in  his  environment  to  the  class 
of  things  forbidden.  The  austerity,  renunciation 
and  limited  enjoyments  of  these  men  have  been 
defined  as  their  most  pronounced  characteristics. 
Here,  however,  are  breadth  and  joyousness  of 
view  and  deep  insight  into  the  true  meaning  of 
life,  wdiich  forbid  classifying  their  author  with  the 
Puritan  as  he  is  commonly  considered.  The 
Essays  lead  us  a  step  farther  than  this.  They 
serve  to  correct  the  popular  idea  of  the  Puritan. 
Robinson  was  not  a  startling  exception  among 
the  Puritans  and  the  Separatists.  These  were 
men  of  broader  sympathies  and  happier  temper 
than  they  are  generally  regarded.  Robinson's 
Essays  set  him  securely  among  the  men  of  good 
cheer,  intense  humanity,  keen  appreciation  of  the 
good  things  of  this  earthly  life;  he  is  modern  to  the 
core  and  also  Puritan  to  the  core.     It  is  a  libel  to 


280  JOHN  ROBINSON 

brand  Puritanism  as  gloomy  and  cold.  The  essays 
of  John  Robinson  repudiate  that  notion. 

Robinson  drew  his  observations  from  two 
sources.  The  first  and  deepest  of  these  is  divine. 
God,  who  has  spoken  through  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, is  the  source  of  all  wisdom,  and  commands 
men  to  lay  their  ear  close  to  his  mouth  that  they 
may  hear  him  speak.  The  second  source  of  wis- 
dom is  man  himself.  x\nd  neither  source  is  per- 
fect without  the  other,  although  the  knowledge 
of  God  must  be  accorded  first  place  in  order  of 
importance.  A  man  who  claims  to  be  a  serva^nt 
of  God  but  does  not  know  him  is  like  a  man  who 
pretends  to  be  the  servant  of  some  nobleman 
whom  he  never  has  seen,  or  within  vv^hose  gates  he 
never  has  entered. 

Robinson's  thinking  began  and  rounded  itself 
out  in  the  great  fact  of  God.  He  did  not  try  to 
define  God.  He  realized  that  the  infinite  never 
could  be  comprehended  by  man,  even  if  there  were 
any  medium  through  which  it  could  be  revealed. 
To  Robinson,  God  was  utterly  past  finding  out, 
and  he  was  dazzled  by  the  infinite  splendor  more 
than  the  eye  is  dazzled  when  it  attempts  to  gaze 
upon  the  sun  at  midday.  But,  although  he 
could  not,  by  searching,  find  God  out,  he  found 
it  quite  possible  and  his  happy  privilege  to  let  his 


THE    ESSAYS  281 

soul  loose  in  the  unspeakable  glory,  and  there, 
without  another  mood  to  spoil  its  rapture,  it  arose 
and  sang.  His  heart  was  ravished  with  love  of 
the  Majesty  divine,  especially  as  he  sought  and 
found  it  unveiled  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  fulness  of 
everlasting  joy  he  expected  to  find  in  the  infinite 
Father  and  his  fellowship. 

So  Robinson's  heart  glowed  with  a  joy  in  the 
sense  of  God's  being  and  love  and  fatherly  care, 
which  makes  him  one  with  all  mystic  lovers  of 
the  invisible  Father.  The  same  spiritual  passion 
burns  in  the  heart  of  the  Separatist  as  leaped  into 
flame  in  the  breast  of  St.  Francis  when  he  stretched 
out  his  hands  toward  the  ineffable  glory  of  the 
seraph  to  receive  the  impress  of  the  stigmata. 
The  Christian  world,  however  sadly  rent  with 
schism,  is  yet  one  in  the  impulse  of  its  devotion 
and  the  passion  of  its  love. 

There  is  something  deeply  beautiful  in  the 
glimpse  Avhich  we  get  into  the  heart  of  Robinson 
through  his  essay,  "Of  God's  Love."  He  is 
like  Paul  in  his  spiritual  exultation.  He  fairly 
shouts  it  forth.  "He  whom  God  loves,  though 
he  know  it  not,  is  a  happy  man:  he  that  knows 
it  knows  himself  to  be  hapj^y."  Robinson  re- 
peats the  experience  of  Paul  from  the  record  in 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  letter  to  the  Romans; 


282  JOHN  ROBINSON 

and  we  see  the  Leyden  pastor  and  the  great  apos- 
tle to  the  Gentiles  sharing  the  same  rich  experi- 
ence. Nothing — nor  death,  nor  principalities,  nor 
powers — could  separate  him  from  the  love  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Not  even  the  fearfulness  of  sin 
clouded  this  splendid  experience. 

Robinson  makes  God's  severity  with  sin  the 
inevitable  outcome  of  divine  love.  For  God  must 
love  that  which  is  good;  and  that  which  is  the 
highest  good  is  God  himself;  therefore  God  must 
love  himself  supremely,  and  then  all  good  things 
to  which  he  has  communicated  his  own  goodness. 
Anything,  therefore,  which  violates  his  holiness 
must  come  under  his  severest  censure,  because  it 
is  an  offense  against  the  love  which  he  has  for 
goodness.  Although  he  loves  all  the  works  of  his 
hand,  when  man,  by  his  sin,  offends  that  infinite 
love  of  the  good,  it  is  necessary  that  man  should 
become  miserable  rather  than  that  God  should 
forget  his  owm  honor  and  glory. 

Robinson  does  not  dwell  in  this  realm  of  sterner 
reflection  long.  He  comes  back  quickly  to  the 
gracious  love  of  which  he  is  as  sure  as  he  is  cer- 
tain of  the  sun,  although  he  does  not  climb  into 
the  heavens  to  see  it  shine.  The  greatest  witness 
of  the  love  of  God  to  men  is  the  fact  that  he  does 
turn  them  from  sin  unto  himself.     Into  this  essay 


THE   ESSAYS  283 

one  iiiighl  insert,  without  (l()ii)<!;  violoiico  U)  its 
lofty  tone,  the  words  of  Whit  tier,  from  his  poem, 
''The  Eternal  Goodness": 

"And  so  beside  the  Silent  Sea 
I  wait  tlie  muffled  oar; 
No  harm  from  Him  can  come  to  me 
On  ocean  or  on  shore. 

"I  know  not  where  His  islands  lift 
Their  f ronded  palms  in  air ; 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 
Be3'ond  His  love  and  care." 

The  simplicity  of  Robinson's  trust  in  God  is 
evident  from  the  manner  in  which  he  regards 
dependence  upon  the  divine  promises.  We  have 
a  short  essay,  ''Of  God's  Promises,"  in  which  he 
defines  his  relation  to  the  promises  of  the  Father. 
Here,  as  in  many  another  place  in  his  writings, 
Robinson  lets  a  sentence  escape  him  which  reveals 
to  us  the  stress  of  exile  and  poverty  in  wliich 
he  w^as  obliged  to  spend  his  days.  The  Lord,  he 
says,  "  provides  ver}^  graciously  for  his  poor  serv- 
ants, who  are  ofttimes  brought  into  that  dis- 
tressed state  both  outward  and  inward  as  they 
have  very  little  else  save  the  promises  of  God 
wherewith  to  comfort  themselves."  But  these 
promises  Robinson  tested  and  found  true,  even 
in  the  respect  to  material  things. 


284  JOHN  ROBINSON 

^'1  must  therefore  thus  conclude  with  myself 
touching  those  matters — seeing  'God  hath  prom- 
ised all  good  things  to  them  that  love  him'  (Psa. 
xxxiv :  9) :  if  this  or  that  bodily  good  thing,  good 
in  itself,  be  indeed  for  my  good,  I  shall  receive, it 
from  him  in  due  time:  and  if  I  receive  it  not, 
it  is  a  real  testimony  from  him  that  indeed  it  is 
not  good  for  me,  how  much  soever  I  desire  it  " 

This  reverent  trust  in  the  goodness  of  God 
marks  Robinson  as  one  of  those  "literal  Chris- 
tians,'' who  dare  to  follow  their  Master  even  into 
the  ranges  of  a  perfect  filial  confidence.  It  takes 
a  great  soul  to  rise  to  the  level  of  such  practice. 
There  are  certain  moods  which  none  but  a  Chris- 
tian can  understand.  When  St.  Paul  discloses  his 
very  heart  in  such  words  as  "  I  am  crucified  wdth 
Christ:  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me,"  he  puts  himself  into  the  class  of 
those  whom  only  a  man  of  similar  experience  can 
appreciate.  The  experience  may  be  made  the 
subject  of  analytical  investigation  by  others,  but 
it  cannot  be  understood  except  by  a  mystic.  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  "rapt  in  God,"  is  an  enigma 
to  one  who  has  never  know-n  anything  of  a  trans- 
port as  real  and  divine  as  his.  John  Robinson, 
practical  and  sagacious  pastor  and  friend,  opens 
his  heart  in  this  little  essay  so  deeply  that  we  see 
his  kinship  of  soul  with  men  of  the  type  of  Paul 


THE    ESSAYS  285 

and  Francis.  To  those  who  know  the  experience, 
he  becomes  a  more  real  person  b)^  this  ghmpse 
into  inner  chambers. 

There  is  hardly  a  more  significant  or  interesting 
section  of  all  Robinson's  writings,  for  the  light 
that  it  throws  upon  the  character  of  the  man,  than 
the  short  essay,  "Of  Created  Goodness;"^  for 
it  shows  by  sharpest  contrast  the  speculative 
reasoner  and  the  man  of  helpful  service.  Here 
are  the  two  sides  of  Robinson's  character  set 
over  against  each  other  in  a  few  pages,  the 
theologian  and  the  practical  philanthropist. 

Robinson  cannot  approach  the  matter  of  doing 
good,  the  "showing  of  a  spring  of  water  to  him 
that  is  thirsty,''  or  the  gift  of  "even  one  loaf, 
yea  a  shive  to  him  that  is  hungry," — he  cannot 
come  to  the  point  of  giving  good,  practical  coun- 
sel about  these  things  except  through  the  avenue 
of  a  speculative  cUscussion  of  the  relation  of  all 
human  or  "created"  goodness  to  the  benevo- 
lence of  God.  God  is  the  source  of  all  goodness, 
and  everything  that  is  done  to  us  that  is  good  is 
only  a  blessing  of  God  reached  to  us  by  the  hand 
of  a  brother. 

But  this  background  of  divine  sovereignty  and 
the  attempt  to  relate  the  beneficent  action  of  the 

'  Page  17-23. 


286  JOHN  ROBINSON 

human  will  to  it,  characteristic  as  it  is  of  Robin- 
son ^s  thought,  yields  very  soon  to  a  discourse 
on  the  manner  in  which  good  ought  to  be  done, 
which  is  conducted  so  plainly  and  with  such  wise 
appreciation  of  the  task  of  doing  good,  that  we 
summarize  and  quote  the  points  as  follows : 

"First,  We  must  do  things  in  obedience  to 
Gods  commandments,  and  in  honour  of  his  name 
and  gospel;  and  must  ever  have  that  end  in  our 
eye,  as  archers  have  their  mark. 

'^Secondly,  That  we  do  it  at  all  tim^es,  as  we 
have  opportunity.  .  .  .  We  must  beware  of  that 
agueish  goodness,  w^hich  comes  by  fits  only  and 
when  men  are  pleased:  for  so,  they  say,  the  devil 
is  good. 

"Thirdly,  We  must  do  good  readily.  ...  He 
that  giveth,  or  doth  other  good,  readily,  giveth 
twice:  he  scarce  once,  or  at  all,  that  doth  it 
slackly:  he  rather,  in  truth,  suffers  a  good  turn 
to  be  drawn  from  him  that  doeth  it.  Living 
springs  send  out  streams  of  water:  dead  pits  must 
have  all  that  they  afford  drawn  out  with  buckets. 

"Fourthly,  According  to  our  ability;  knowing, 
that  as  our  receivings  are  from  God,  greater  or 
less,  so  much  our  accounts  be  for  doing  good.  .  .  . 

"Fifthly,  AYe  must  have  respect  to  men's  pres- 
ent wants;  and  not  only  consider  what  we  can 
best  spare  but  withal  what  they  stand  most  need 
of.  .  .  . 


THE  ESSAYS  287 

"Sixthly,  We  must  do  good  to  all  (Gal.  vi.  10), 
knowing,  that  wheresoever  a  man  is,  there  is  a 
place  for  a  good  turn:  but,  more  si)ecially,  to 
some  according  to  the  singular  bond,  natural, 
civil,  or  religious,  wherewith  God  hath  tied  u« 
together.  .  .  . 

"Lastly,  A  good  man,  how  gracious  soever 
and  ready  to  do  good,  'guideth  his  affairs  with 
discretion'  (Psa.  cxii.  5),  not  sowing  his  seed  in 
barren  ground,  by  bestowing  favours  without 
difTerence;  for  that  is  rather  to  throw  away  than 
to  bestow  a  benefit." 

The  good  sense  and  the  keen  insight  of  these 
counsels  are  at  once  evident.  There  is  the  con- 
ciseness of  Poor  Richard  in  them;  there  is  the 
practical  experience  of  the  Christian  pastor  behind 
them;  and  before  the  essay  closes,  we  are  per- 
mitted to  see  the  beating  of  that  pastor's  heart  in 
a  paragraph  which  rings  true  to  the  experiences 
of  the  Christian  ministry  to-day,  as  much  as  it 
did  to  the  conditions  of  the  Separatist  church  in 
Ley  den  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

"When  I  consider  what  good  the  rich  and 
mighty  otherwise  in  the  world  might  easily  do  if 
they  had  hearts  answerable;  and  how  little  they 
do  for  the  most  part ;  it  seems  horrible  unthank- 
fulness  and  inicjuity  in  them,  and  matter  of  indig- 
nation against  them:  but  then,  on  the  other  side, 


288  JOHN  ROBINSON 

when  I  consider  how  Uttle  good  I  myself  do,  in 
my  meanness,  and  others  my  Uke,  to  that  which 
I  should,  and  might  do,  if  I  did  my  utmost;  I 
find  reason  to  be  most  angry  with  m.yself  and 
mine  own  unprofitableness,  and  to  be  glad  and 
thankful  that  so  much  good  is  done  by  the  other 
as  is." 

Thus  the  pastor's  experience  makes  him  ten- 
der, wise  and  fraternal,  where  the  struggles  of  the 
theologian  served  to  do  little  more  than  to  stir 
the  mist  v/ithout  showing  the  way.  Years  later 
Cotton  Mather,  the  theologian,  wrote  his  "  Essays 
to  do  Good."  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  could 
have  had  little  sympathy  with  Mather's  theology, 
found  it  in  his  heart  to  write  concerning  the  influ- 
ence of  the  slight  volume  upon  him: 

''  If  I  have  been,  as  you  seem  to  think,  a  useful 
citizen,  the  pubhc  owes  all  the  advantage  of  it  to 
that  book.  "1 

We  are  likely  to  forget  Mather's  ''Essays"  and 
their  influence  upon  Franklin  in  the  emphasis 
which  we  lay  upon  the  theological  work  of  their 
writer.  The  parallel  is  not  without  interest. 
These  few  pages  in  the  midst  of  the  many  filled 
with  controversies  in  doctrine  and  polity  may 
have  found,  and  doubtless  did  find,  their  Franklin 

1  A.  P.  Marvin,  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  Cotton  Mather,"  p.  362. 


THE   ESSAYS  289 

soniewliore.     At  least  the  pages  glow  to-day  with 
counsel  that  is  both  kindly  and  wise. 

There  are  indications  everywhere  in  the  Essays 
of  Robinson's  tendency  to  take  large  views  of  life 
and  to  consider  all  sides  of  a  question.  An  in- 
stance of  this  catholic  judgment  is  the  rule  he  lays 
down  according  to  which  the  value  of  a  man's 
life  and  work  is  to  be  estimated.     He  says: 

''We  are  not,  therefore,  to  measure  a  person's 
state  by  some  one  or  few  acts,  done,  as  it  were, 
by  the  way,  and  upon  instance  of  some  strong 
tomptation,  but  according  to  the  tenor  and  course 
of  his  life.  Else  what  wise  man  should  not  be  a 
fool  also?     Or  what  fool  should  not  be  a  wise 


It  was  not  a  common  canon  of  judgment  in 
times  of  intense  controversy  and  sharp  use  of  per- 
sonal judgment;  but  Robinson  held  firmly  to  this 
principle,  that  no  man  is  wholly  good  and  no  man 
wholly  bad,  so  far  as  his  actions  make  it  possible 
to  judge  of  his  character.  We  must  not  forget 
this  fact  whenever  we  consider  the  severities  of 
Robinson's  doctrine  of  original  sin  and  the  bond- 
age of  the  spirit  to  evil. 

In  the  essay  "Of  Equability,  and  Perseverance 


m 


Well-doing"^  Robinson  pleads  for  the  reason- 


Pages  24-31 


290  JOHN  ROBINSON 

ableness  of  a  judicious,  conservative  attitude 
toward  all  religious  questions.  He  is  a  true 
disciple  of  the  middle  way,  whenever  that  does 
not  involve  the  sacrifice  of  any  principle.  The 
instance  of  Eli  is  used  by  Robinson  to  illustrate 
his  thought  as  follows : 

^'  It  is  dangerous  in  courses  of  rehgion  and  god- 
liness to  fall  forward  by  errors,  preposterous  zeal, 
or  other  misguidance:  yet  not  so  much  so  as  to 
fall  backward  by  an  unfaithful  heart.  The  for- 
mer may  break  his  face  thereby,  and  lose  his  com- 
fort in  a  great  measure  both  with  God  and  men: 
but  the  latter  is  in  danger  utterly  to  break  the 
neck  of  his  conscience,  as  old  Eli  brake  his  neck 
bodily  by  falling  backward  from  his  seat  and  died. 
Are  there  not  many  Eli's  in  all  ages?'' 

The  progress  of  the  soul,  Robinson  taught,  can 
be  secured  only  by  resolute  struggle.  The  sins 
and  the  dispositions  toward  evil  which  are  bound 
up  with  our  constitution  make  it  necessary  for  us 
to  fight  if  we  are  to  gain  ground.  As  he  puts  it  in 
homely  phrase,  ''our  way  to  heaven  is  up  a  hill, 
and  we  drag  a  cart-load  of  our  corruptions  after 
us;  which,  except  we  keep  going,  will  pull  us  back- 
ward ere  we  be  aware.  "^ 

Robinson's  sense  of  the  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures was  vivid  and  compelling.  He  ;j^wrote  con- 
cerning them  as  follows: 

>  Page  28. 


THE   ESSAY !i  291 

"The  Scriptures  are  not  only  authentic  in 
themselves,  as  having  the  Spirit  of  God  for  the 
author  both  of  matter  and  manner  and  writing 
(2  Pet.  i.  21);  but  do  also,  as  they  say,  carry  their 
authority  in  their  mouths,  binding  both  to  cre- 
dence and  obedience  all  whomsoever  unto  whom 
they  come  and  by  what  means  soever." 

His  doctrine  of  inspiration,  so  far  as  he  fornm- 
lates  it  in  the  Essays,  is  not  so  limited  as  the 
strictest  interpretation  of  the  foregoing  might  lead 
us  to  believe.     He  says: 

"Neither  all  things  which  the  prophets  of  God 
wrote  were  written  by  Divine  ins])iration,  but  some 
of  them  humanly,  as  their  human  affairs,  common 
to  them  with  other  men,  required:  neither  was 
all  wherein  they  were  divinely  inspired  brought 
into  the  public  treasury  of  the  church  or  made 
part  of  the  canonical  Scriptures  which  we  call  the 
Bible;  no  more  than  all  which  they  spake  was 
spoken  by  the  Spirit;  or  all  which  they  spake  by 
the  Spirit  written  (John  xx.  30,  31;  xxi.  25):^  but 
only  so  much  as  the  Lord  in  wisdom  and  mercy 
thought  requisite  to  guide  the  church  in  faith  and 
ol:)cdience  to  the  world's  end;  so  as  the  Scriptures 
should  neither  be  defective  through  brevity,  nor 
burthensome  by  too  great  largeness  and  prolixity. " 

'  "And  many  other  sij^ns  truly  did  Jesus  in  the  presence  of  his  dis- 
ciples, which  are  not  written  in  this  book;  but  these  are  written,  that  ye 
inifrht  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ ,  the  Son  of  <Jod ;  and  that  believing 
ye  iniuht  have  life  through  his  name.  " 

"And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  Jesus  did,  the  which,  if 
they  should  be  written  every  one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself 
could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written. " 


292  JOHN  ROBINSON 

We  find  ourselves  brought  constantly  in  contact 
with  Robinson's  spiritual  temper  in  these  Essays. 
One  of  the  hardships  which  his  sensitive  spirit 
was  compelled  to  endure  was  the  reproach  of  a 
schismatic  from  the  body  of  true  Christians  which 
he  seemed  doomed  to  bear.  This  was  a  trial  of 
no  slight  character  to  him.  We  can  almost  hear 
him  appeal  from  the  judgments  of  men,  which 
were  at  one  against  him  in  this  regard,  to  the 
just  judgment  of  God,  before  whom  his  own  soul 
said  he  stood  innocent,  in  a  paragraph  from  the 
essay  "Of  Heresy  and  Schism."^ 

"And  if,  only  an  uncharitable  heart  make  an 
uncharitable  person  before  God,  and  a  proud 
heart,  a  proud  person;  then  he,  who  upon  due 
examination  and  certain  knowledge  of  his  heart, 
finds  and  feels  the  same  truly  disposed  to  union 
with  all  Christians,  so  far  as  possibly  he  can  see  it 
lawful;  though,  through  error  or  frailty,  he  may 
step  aside  into  some  by-path,  that  way;  yet,  hath 
that  person  a  siipenedeas.  from  the  Lord  in  his 
bosom,  securing  him  from  being  attached  for  a 
schismatical  person  and  so  found  in  the  court  of 
heaven;  what  blame  soever  he  may  bear  from  men 
upon  earth,  or  correction  from  God,  for  his  fail- 
ing, upon  infirmity,  therein." 

Here  and  there  the  Essays  drag  heavily.    The 

1  Page  72. 


THE  ESSAYS  293 

subjects  are  commonplace  at  times  and  the  treat- 
ment of  tliem  conventional  and  prosaic.  Now 
and  then,  however,  Robinson  throws  a  tremendous 
dash  of  vitaHty  into  a  theme,  and  it  is  hfted  at 
once  from  the  low  levels  of  academic  treatment 
by  the  touch  of  life.  The  man  who  has  suffered 
and  fought  speaks  now  and  then,  and  scarcely 
ever  with  more  splendid  vitality  of  conviction  than 
in  the  essay,  '^Of  Truth  and  Falsehood.  "^  It 
is  a  champion  who  says: 

"But  our  Lord  Christ  called  himself  truth,  not 
custom:  neither  is  falsehood,  error  or  heresy  con- 
vinced by  novelty,  but  by  truth.  This  truth  is 
always  the  same  whilst  the  God  of  truth  is  in 
heaven,  what  entertainment  soever  it  find  with 
men,  upon  earth:  it  is  always  praiseworthy,  though 
no  man  praise  it;  and  hath  no  reason,  or  just  cause 
to  be  ashamed,  though  it  often  goes  with  a  scratclicd 
face.  They  that  fight  against  it  are  like  the  floods 
beating  upon  the  strong  rocks,  which  are  so  much 
the  more  miserably  dashed  in  pieces,  by  how  much 
they  are  the  more  violently  carried.  Though  fire 
and  sword  assault  it,  yet  will  it  not  be  killed, 
or  die :  and  though  by  violence  it  be  buried  quick, 
yet  will  it  rise  again;  and  if  not  before,  3'et  when 
all  flesh  shall  rise  again;  and  when  truth,  which 
was  first,  and  before  falsehood  and  error,  shall  be 
last,  and  abide  for  ever." 

'  Pages  72-76. 


294  JOHN  ROBINSON 

There  beats  through  such  words  as  these  the 
pulse  of  a  brave  and  honest  man,  who  conceives 
of  his  hfe  as  a  gift  to  a  cause.  And  back  of  all 
the  rugged  honesty  of  his  controversies,  which  we 
have  seen  everywhere  in  evidence,  lies  the  prin- 
ciple which  he  formulates  in  these  words : 

"  He  that  hath  but  a  right  philosophical  spirit, 
and  is  but  morally  honest,  would  rather  suffer 
many  deaths  than  call  a  pin,  a  point,  or  speak 
the  least  thing  against  his  understanding  or  per- 
suasion/':   \^ 

This  is  one  reason  why  the  writings  of  Robinson 
stand  so  far  above  the  mass  of  the  surviving  liter- 
ature of  the  Separation.  There  is  such  honesty  of 
conviction  in  them;  such  sensitiveness  to  the  high 
claims  of  the  truth  abounds;  such  perfect  willing- 
ness to  repudiate  old  grounds  when  new  positions 
become  clear  is  here,  that  we  are  ready  to  give 
enthusiastic  praise  to  John  Robinson,  the  cham- 
pion of  the  truth. 

Robinson  was  a  truth  seeker  before  he  was  a 
truth  defender.  He  believed  in  the  effort  of  the 
reason  to  apprehend  the  truth.  In  an  essay 
^'  Of  Knowledge  and  Ignorance, "  he  says : 

''Papists  call  ignorance  the  mother  of  devotion; 
and  so  make  reckoning  that  if  they,  the  multi- 
tude especiall}^,  be  ignorant  enough,  they  are  de- 


THE    ESSAYS  295 

vout  enough.  But  the  philo.so})her,  thoup;h  a 
heathen,  who  thought  all  sin  to  come  of  ignorance, 
shot  nearer  the  mark  than  those  left-handed 
Christians."^ 

Another  essay,  ''Of  Society  and  Friendship," 
has  so  much  of  the  modern  social  sense  in  it,  and 
contains  so  strong  a  protest  against  the  whole 
effort  to  attain  holiness  through  isolation,  that  it 
might  well  come  from  the  pen  of  a  writer  to-day. 
How  near  the  courses  of  modern  thinking  this 
proposition   runs : 

"God  hath  made  man  a  sociable  creature;  and 
hath  not  only  ordained  several  societies,  in  which 
persons  are  to  unite  themselves  for  their  mutual 
welfare;  but  withal  so  dispensed  his  blessings  as 
that  no  man  is  so  barren  but  hath  something 
wherewith  to  profit  others;  nor  any  so  furnished 
but  that  he  stands  [in]  need  of  others  to  supply 
his  wants." 

Here,  certainly,  is  a  keen  appreciation  of  the 
unity  of  the  race,  the  mutual  dependence  of  its 
members,  and  the  necessity  of  society  to  the  per- 
fection of  the  individual. 

In  its  bearing  upon  the  Christian  life,  Robinson 
is  no  less  clear  concerning  the  validity  of  the  prin- 
ciple ; 

'  Page  79. 


296  JOHN  ROBINSON 

"As  God  hath  estabhshed  fellowships  and  com- 
munities of  men  to  procure  their  mutual  good, 
and  to  fence  them  the  better,  on  every  side,  against 
evil;  so  sin  and  wickedness  being  the  greatest  and 
only  absolute  evil,  Christians  are  most  bound 
by  virtue  of  their  association,  to  help  and  assist, 
within  the  bounds  of  the  callings  in  which  God 
hath  set  them,  their  brethren  and  associates  against 
it." 

The  duty  of  the  Christian  to  serve  society  is 
therefore  taught  with  the  greatest  force  and  clear- 
ness by  Robinson,  as  over  against  any  tendency 
to  "hide  in  holes''  from  one's  fellow  men,  "as 
melancholic  monks  do." 

On  every  page  of  this  essay  Robinson  stands 
revealed  to  us  as  a  loyal  and  tender  friend.  He 
bears  witness  to  the  joy  he  found  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  kindred  spirits: 

"To  him  that  knows  the  use  of  true  friendship, 
no  earthly  thing  is  more  delightful  than  the  sweet 
society  of  wise  and  honest  friends,  whether  for 
recreation  after  study  or  labor;  or  communication 
in  a  prosperous  state ;  or  comfort  in  an  afflicted. " 

He  warns  against  letting  the  fact  of  an  abuse 
of  confidence  in  a  single  instance  lead  to  a  per- 
manent distrust  of  all  men;  he  urges  the  wisdom 
of  sharing  our  joys  with  our  friends  rather  than 
always  giving  them  a  knowledge  of  our  sorrows. 


THE    ^.S^.iy.S'  297 

He  gives  us  such  sententious  bits  of  truth  as  this: 

''Wenlth  maketh  many  friends,  but  poverty 
trieth  them." 

He  lets  us  see  again  tliat  temper  and  tendency 
of  his  own  spirit  which  we  have  found  impelhng 
him  toward  a  larger  communion  with  his  Christian 
brethren : 

"Lastly,  when  we  are  necessarily  pressed  [to 
break  rather  than  untwine  the  cord  of  a  former 
friendship]  let  us  rather  do  it  with  sorrow  than 
anger;  and  withal,  have  in  us  a  disposition  to  re- 
assume  our  old  course  of  kindness,  if  there  appear 
cause  afterwards;  as  the  storks,  when  the  winter 
is  over,  do  affect  their  former  nests." 

Robinson  lays  down  a  rule  equally  tolerant  and 
gracious  in  the  essay,  "Of  Suspicion,"  in  which 
he  says : 

"Howsoever  things  fall  out,  it  is  best  to  keep 
our  bias  always  on  the  right  side;  and  to  incline 
still  to  a  better,  rather  than  to  a  worse  opinion  of 
men  than  they  deserve."-^ 

Such  examples  of  true  insight  as  these  are  scat- 
tered all  through  the  Essays: 

"  It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  man  to  inform  his  con- 
science aright;  and  then  to  follow  the  direction 
that  it  gives.  "2 

'  Page  181. 
■'  Page  195. 


298  JOHN  ROBINSON 

"  True  zeal  must  be  for  God,  and  from  God,  and 
according  to  God:  and  having  God  both  for  begin- 
ning and  end  and  rule  of  direction,  it  cannot  but 
itself  be  good  and  godly.' '^ 

Let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  another  essay,  of 
only  three  printed  pages,  on  "  Health  and  Physic. " 
It  shows  us  a  side  of  Robinson's  character  that 
we  never  would  surmise  from  the  other  writings 
which  we  have  already  examined.  Here  are  bits 
of  keen  observation,  neat  turns  of  thought  and 
phrase,  and  a  merry  mood  blended  with  an  ear- 
nest, serious  spirit.  Good  health  he  calls  ''this 
most  sweet  sauce  of  all  other  goods,''  and  the  best 
way  to  preserve  it  is  by  a  temperate  life,  begun 
early  and  continued  steadfastly.  The  one  point 
at  which  Robinson  has  wondered  most  is  the 
unreasonable  choice  of  physicians  which  persons 
make  when  they  are  in  need  of  them.  The  per- 
verse tendency  to  consult  quacks  was  prevalent 
then  as  now,  if  this  observation  by  Robinson  is 
true: 

''For  though  in  all  other  courses  men  seek  for 
[the  counsel  of]  such  as  are  most  skilful;  yet  in 
this  they  are  not  only  more  ready  to  believe  any 
that  professeth  himself  a  physician,  than  of  any 
other  faculty  [i.  e.  profession];  but  also  choose 
rather  to  trust  their  bodies  and  lives  in  the  hands 

1  Page  205. 


THE   E^f^AYS,  299 

of  ignorant  ompirics,  men  or  women,  than  of  the 
most  expert  and  learned  physicians  that  are." 

Robinson  proceeds  to  speculate  upon  the  grounds 
of  this  observed  fact,  and,  among  other  reasons  to 
account  for  it,  finds  that  the  large  fees  charged 
by  physicians  of  high  standing  tend  to  induce 
many  to  seek  inexperienced  quacks  whose  charges 
are  less.  And  this  gives  Robinson  the  opportu- 
nity to  offer  this  word  of  counsel  to  the  regular 
physicians : 

''  If  they  would  descend  to  that  rule  of  equity  in 
other  cases,  a  pennyworth  for  a  penny,  [they] 
would  find  that,  lighter  gains  coming  thicker, 
would  make  heavier  purses." 

In  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the  essay,  Rob- 
inson indulges  in  a  piece  of  ancient  wit  at  the 
expense  of  physicians,  although  he  does  not  end 
it  until  he  has  turned,  in  his  usually  serious  way, 
to  point  a  moral.     He  says : 

''  Physicians,  saith  one,  and  truly,  have  this  ad- 
vantage over  them  of  other  professions,  that  the 
sun  beholds  their  cures,  and  the  earth  covers  their 
failings.  They  that  die  under  their  hands,  or  by 
their  default,  are  past  complaining  of  them:  they 
that  recover  and  survive,  though  sometimes  by 
the  benefit  of  nature  alone,  under  God's  provi- 
dence, will  repute  and  report  them  the  means  of 
their  recovery.     Which  consideration  makes  not 


300  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  honest  and  conscionable  the  more  secure,  but 
the  more  careful  of  their  account  to  be  given  to 
God,  from  whose  eyes  nothing  is  hid."  ^ 

It  is  almost  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  since 
a  new  edition  of  this  single  volume  has  been  put 
out.  Even  in  the  reprint  among  the  author's  col- 
lected works  the  Essays  are  seldom  read.  Per- 
haps it  is  useless  to  hope  that  they  will  ever  claim 
attention.  They  are  very  vital  papers,  however. 
A  few  of  them  are  as  timely  now  as  they  were  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Their 
author  was  a  man  of  wide  acquaintance  with  clas- 
sical literature;  he  saw  clearly  and  deeply  into 
life;  he  was  the  master  at  times  of  a  clear  and 
forceful  style.  The  Essays  are  his  most  impor- 
tant literary  work. 

'  Page  139. 


XIV 
THE  LAST  YEARS  IN  LEYDEN 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    LAST    YEARS    IX    LEYI)Ex\ 

John  Robinson  turned  back  to  Leyden  from 
Delfshaven  for  a  busy  life  of  less  than  five  years. 
It  was  a  time  of  divided  interests.  He  was  still 
pastor  of  the  church  of  the  exiles;  he  was  still  pas- 
tor of  the  church  of  the  remnant.  Plis  whole  wish 
was  to  remain  with  those  who  needed  him  most, 
the  aged  and  the  weak  in  Leyden,  until,  by  the 
gradual  transfer  of  the  Leyden  majority  his  duty 
should  lie  in  the  New  World  and  he  might  follow 
to  resume  it  there.  He  deplored  their  lack  of  a 
preacher  and  said,  in  a  letter  to  John  Carver,  that 
he  should  make  this  fact  a  spur  to  a  reunion  with 
them  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

The  company  of  emigrants  to  America  did  not 
consist  entirely  of  members  of  Robinson's  con- 
gregation in  Leyden.  There  were  many  who  joined 
them  in  England.  The  Leyden  pastor,  however, 
regarded  himself  as  the  pastor  of  the  entire  com- 
pany, for  he  sent  them  a  letter  in  that  capacity 
which  was  read  to  them  before  they  sailed  from 
Southampton.     Bradford  thought  that  the  letter 

303 


304  JOHN  ROBINSON 

was  sufficiently  important  to  warrant  its  insertion 
in  his  story,  ^'Of  Plimoth  Plantation."  ^  The  let- 
ter shows  how  much  Robinson  longed  to  be  with 
the  exiles  in  their  undertaking.  .  He  says: 

"  Loving  Christian  Friends,  I  do  heartily  and  in 
the  Lord  salute  you  all,  as  being  they  with  whom 
I  am  present  in  my  best  affection,  and  most  ear- 
nest longings  after  you,  though  I  be  constrained 
for  a  while  to  be  bodily  absent  from  you.  I  say 
constrained  God  knowing  how  willingly,  and  much 
rather  than  otherwise,  I  would  have  borne  my  part 
with  you  in  this  first  brunt,  were  I  not  by  strong 
necessity  held  back  for  the  present.  Make  account 
of  me  in  the  mean  while,  as  of  a  man  divided  in 
myself  with  great  pain,  and  as  (natural  bonds  set 
aside)  having  my  better  part  with  you." 

This  is  characteristic  of  Robinson.  His  heroism 
in  the  return  to  Leyden,  to  take  up  his  work  again 
with  the  aged  and  feebler  remnant  as  pastor  and 
leader  in  practical  enterprises,  was  greater  than  it 
would  have  been  had  he  sailed  in  the  Maj^flower. 

The  concluding  paragraphs  of  the  Southampton 
letter  are  very  significant  in  their  bearing  upon 
the  civil  life  of  the  exiles.  One  of  these  is  as 
follows : 

"  Lastly,  whereas  you  are  become  a  body  politic, 
using  amongst  yourselves  civil  government,  and 

1  Pages  78-82. 


L.1.S7'  YEAUS  IN  LEYDKN  305 

are  not  furnished  with  any  persons  of  special  enii- 
nency  above  the  rest,  to  be  chosen  by  you  into 
office  of  government,  let  your  wisdom  and  godli- 
ness ajDpear,  not  only  in  choosing  such  persons  as 
do  entirely  love  and  will  promote  the  common 
good,  but  also  in  yielding  unto  them  all  due  honor 
and  obedience  in  their  lawful  administrations; 
not  beholding  in  them  the  ordinariness  [i.  e.  com- 
monplaceness  or  familiaritj^]  of  their  persons,  but 
God's  ordinance  for  your  good,  not  being  like  the 
foolish  multitude  who  more  honor  the  gay  coat, 
than  either  the  virtuous  mind  of  the  man  or  [the] 
glorious  ordinance  of  the  Lord.  But  you  know 
better  things,  and  that  the  image  of  the  Lord's 
power  and  authority  which  the  magistrate  beareth 
is  honorable,  in  how  mean  [commonplace]  persons 
soever.  And  this  duty  you  both  may  the  more 
willingly  and  ought  the  more  conscionably  [i.  e. 
conscientiously]  to  perform,  because  you  are  at 
least  for  the  present  to  have  only  them  for  your 
ordinary  governors,  which  [whom]  yourselves 
shall  make  choice  of  for  that  work." 

It  is  at  once  evident  from  this  letter  that  Robin- 
son anticipated  the  formation  of  the  exiles  into 
a  "civill  body  politick"  on  precisely  those  lines 
which  were  laid  down  in  the  compact  which  was 
signed  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower  at  Province- 
town  on  November  11,  or,  according  to  our 
method  of  reckoning,  November  21,  1620.  He 
wrote  hi*^  words  of  counsel  to  them  for  the  pur- 


306  JOHN  ROBINSON 

pose  of  strengthening  what  he  must  have  himself 
taught  them  in  Leyden.  It  is  very  wholesome 
counsel.  It  shows  the  true  democracy  which  he 
safeguarded  by  insistence  upon  the  divine  char- 
acter of  the  power  given  to  elected  ofhcers.  This 
extract  would  serve  a  good  purpose  if  read  to-day 
at  the  beginning  of  every  New  England  town 
meeting. 

The  details  of  Robinson's  relation  to  the  Mer- 
chant Adventurers  as  that  bore  on  the  possibility 
of  his  removal  to  Plymouth  are  somewhat  obscure. 
But  the  general  outlines  of  the  matter  are  quite 
clear.     These  points  are  plain: 

First,  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Leyden  church 
that  the  removal  of  the  stronger  and  younger 
members  should  be  preparatory  to  the  final  trans- 
fer of  the  entire  membership,  together  with  the 
pastor,  who  had  remained  behind.  This  inten- 
tion was  shared  by  the  people  and  Robinson 
alike. 

Second,  it  was  for  the  highest  spiritual  v^^elfare 
of  the  church  that  they  should  be  united  as  quickly 
as  possible,  in  order  that  the  counsel  and  pastoral 
care  of  Robinson  might  be  enjoyed  by  the  church, 
and  also  that  they  might  have  the  benefit  of  his 
strong  practical  wisdom. 

But  there  was  a  division  of  interests.     As  the 


LAST  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  307 

Loyclcn-Plymoutli  church  was  the  first  Congre- 
gational church  to  illustrate  the  Separatist  ideal 
clearly  and  persistently,  so  the  ^Merchant  Adven- 
turers and  business  managers  of  the  Pilgrim  move- 
ment were  the  prototype  of  the  second  organization, 
which  still  continues  in  many  churches  of  this 
order,  the  ecclesiastical  society.  They  were  the 
persons  to  provide  the  money  for  the  support 
of  the  spiritual  activities  of  the  church,  and  their 
paramount  interest  was  not  spiritual,  but  finan- 
cial and  commercial.  There  were  several  consid- 
erations which  weighed  with  them  to  induce 
them  to  oppose  the  bringing  over  of  the  Ley  den 
renmant  and  the  pastor.  This  remnant  was 
composed  of  the  older  and  vreaker  members  of 
th(^  church;  in  the  development  of  the  plans  at 
Plymouth  there  was  need  of  the  strongest  only. 
Then,  too,  the  idea  of  the  Separation  was  un- 
welcome to  the  men  who  had  ventured  money 
in  the  enterprise.  However  reasonable  and 
catholic  Rol)inson's  views  of  the  Separation 
might  be,  hv  was  nevertheless  one  of  its  most 
pronounced  defenders,  and  to  men  anxious  chiefly 
for  the  success  of  a  financial  venture  this  was 
g(^nerally  unwelcome  and  often  repugnant. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  settlement  of 
Plymouth  had  been  made  under  no  specific  grant 


308  JOHN  ROBINSON 

of  freedom  in  religion.  It  was  clearly  enough 
the  policy,  not  only  of  the  officers  of  the  Church 
of  England,  from  whom  such  action  was  to  be 
expected,  but  also  of  the  crown,  to  secure  the  con- 
trol of  New  England  for  episcopacy.  Therefore, 
although  the  permission  to  remxove  and  settle  was 
granted  with  readiness,  there  was  great  official 
unwillingness  to  allow  any  radical  Puritan  or 
avowed  Separatist  minister  to  go  to  Plymouth. 

These  last  years  in  Leyden  were  filled  with  the 
disappointments  of  vain  attempts  on  Robinson's 
part  to  join  his  friends  in  Plymouth.  A  letter 
from  Thomas  Blossom,  dated  December  15,  1625, 
shows  how  keen  the  pastor's  desire  to  go  was. 
Blossom  writes  to  the  brethren  at  Plymouth: 

"Alas!  you  would  fain  have  had  him  with  you, 
and  he  would  as  fain  have  come  to  you;  many  let- 
ters and  much  speech  hath  been  about  his  com- 
ing to  you,  but  never  any  solid  course  proposed 
for  his  going;  if  the  course  propounded  the  last 
year  had  appeared  to  have  been  certain,  he  would 
have  gone  with  two  or  three  families.  I  know  no 
man  amongst  us  knew  his  mind  better  than  I  did, 
about  those  things;  he  was  loath  to  leave  the 
ch.,  yet  I  know  also,  that  he  would  have  accepted 
the  worst  conditions  wh.  in  the  largest  extent  of  a 
good  conscience  could  be  taken,  to  have  come  to 
you."  1 

^  See  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  Ser.  1,  Vol.  .3,  p.  41.    Year  1794. 


LAST  YEARS  /.V  T.EYDKS  309 

Robinson  himself  wrote  to  Carver,  ''Assure  your- 
self that  my  heart  is  with  you,  and  that  I  will 
not  foreslow  my  bodily  coming  at  the  first  op- 
portunity." ^  By  the  close  of  the  year  1623 
Robinson  had  become  aware  of  the  fact  that  the 
possibility  of  being  able  to  go  to  America  was  very 
slic;ht.  He  wrote  to  Brewster  that  he  was  obliged 
to  call  his  transportation  to  America  ''desired, 
rather  than  hoped  for.''  He  saw  that  the  only 
possible  means  of  realizing  the  plan  was  that  money 
should  be  sent  from  Plymouth  for  the  purpose ;  but, 
even  if  that  were  accomplished,  he  clearly  fore- 
saw that  the  Adventurers  would  invent  a  reason 
to  keep  him  in  Holland.  With  his  usual  compre- 
hensive clearness  he  summed  uj)  the  matter  in 
this  way: 

"We  must  dispose  the  adventurers  into  three 
parts;  and  of  them  some  five  or  six  (as  I  conceive) 
are  absolutely  bent  for  us  above  others.'"^  Other 
five  or  six  are  our  bitter,  professed  adversaries. 
The  rest,  being  the  body,  I  conceive  to  be  honestly 
minded,  and  lovingly  also  toward  us;  yet  such 
as  have  others,  namely,  the  forward  preachers, 
[i.  e.  the  pronounced  Puritans  who  did  not  go   to 

'  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  p.  78. 

-  Amons  these  was  Sherley,  who  incurred  the  ill-will  of  the  other  adven- 
turers by  favoring  the  removal.  He  wrote  to  Plymouth  in  1027,  "The 
sole  cause  why  the  creiiter  part  of  the  adventurers  maliKn  me  was  that  I 
woulii  not  side  with  thorn  against  you  and  the  cominK  over  of  the  Ley- 
den  people."      See  "New  England's  Memorial,"  p.  S2,  note. 


310  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  extreme  of  Separation],  nearer  unto  them 
than  us,  and  whose  course  [cause],  so  far  as  there 
is  any  difference,  they  would  advance  rather 
than  ours." 

The  majority,  therefore,  was  against  the  removal 
of  the  section  of  the  church  still  remaining  in  Ley- 
den.  So  long  as  the  smaller  number  continued 
in  Holland,  Robinson  was  in  duty  bound  to  stay 
with  them.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  mere  cost 
of  transferring  himself  and  his  family  might  have 
been  borne  out  of  his  own  resources ;  but  the  ques- 
tion of  his  duty  was  supreme,  and  he  could  not 
leave  Leyden  so  long  as  he  was  needed  as  pastor 
of  the  weaker  remnant.  He  saw  clearly  that  a 
part  of  the  opposition  to  his  removal  came  from 
Puritan  preachers  themselves,  who  had  an  eye  on 
the  colony  at  Plymouth  and  did  not  wish  their 
possible  market  to  be  marred  by  Robinson  ^s 
presence  there.  He  knevN^  that  there  were  men 
among  the  Adventurers  who  would  maliciously 
stop  him  if  he  once  started  for  America.  There 
is  no  intense  bitterness  in  Robinson's  letter  over 
this  condition;  it  is  profound  sorrow,  rather, 
coupled  with  a  prayer  for  patience,  that  breathes 
through  his  words. 

The  removal  of  the  number  who  went  to  Ply- 
mouth necessarily  lightened  the  load  of  Robin- 


L.I.ST  YEARS  IX  LEY  DEN  311 

son's  cares,  and  gave  him  more  time  for  literary 
and  controversial  work.  He  was  in  his  prime, 
between  forty-five  and  fifty  years  of  age.  His 
literary  work  was  very  significant  during  these 
five  years.  The  subject-matter  of  these  books 
has  been  considered  elsewhere;  it  is  interesting 
to  notice  the  array  of  titles.  In  1624  were  pub- 
Ushed  his  ''Defense  of  the  Doctrine  Propounded 
by  the  Synod  at  Dort"  and  "An  Appeal  on 
Truth's  Behalf  (concerning  some  Differences  in 
the  Church  at  Amsterdam)."  In  1625  appeared  the 
first  edition  of  the  "Essays"  and  the  edition 
in  English  of  the  "  Apolog3\  "  The  latter  appeared 
again  in  1644  with  the  addition  of  "  An  Appendix 
to  ^I.  Perkins,  his  six  Principles  of  Christian  Reli- 
gion," which  was  very  probably  prepared  after 
1620.  He  also  wrote  "  A  Treatise  of  the  Law- 
fulness of  Hearing  of  the  Ministers  in  the  Church 
of  England,"  during  the  very  last  years  of  his  life 
in  Leyden.  Hence  there  have  remained  some 
precious  results  from  this  tr3^ing  experience  of 
five  years'  hope  deferred.  If  there  had  been  no 
opposition  to  his  removal  to  America,  Robinson 
might  have  become  so  absorbed  in  the  work  of 
the  Plymouth  church  that  the  "Essays"  never 
would  have  been  written,  and  the  gracious  treatise 
in  behalf  of  wider  fellowship  never  prepared. 


312  JOHN  ROBINSON 

Sorrows  came  to  Robinson  ^s  home  dm^ing  these 
five  years.  On  February  7,  1621,  there  was  a 
burial  in  St.  Peter's  Church.  It  was  a  child 
of  John  and  Bridget  Robinson,  whose  name  we 
do  not  know.  The  records  of  October  15,  in  the 
same  year,  state  that  they  still  had  six  children, 
the  oldest  of  whom  bore  the  names  of  their 
parents,  John  and  Bridget.  Isaac  and  James, 
Mercy  and  Fear,  were  the  others.  These  were 
characteristic  names.  In  March,  1623,  the  family 
circle  was  broken  again,  although  we  do  not  know 
the  name  of  this  child  whose  body  also  was  in- 
terred in  St.  Peter's  Church.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  no  record  has  been  discovered  thus  far  which 
enables  us  to  know  more  of  the  details  of  Robin- 
son's home  life.  Those  who  knew  him  in  his  home 
have  told  us  nothing,  and  no  Boswell  lived  to  pre- 
serve the  com^monplace  sayings  and  deeds  of  the 
Leyden  pastor. 

The  first  letter  which  Governor  Bradford  has 
preserved  in  his  Letter  Book  announcing  the 
death  of  Robinson,  w^as  from  Roger  White,  Mrs. 
Robinson's  brother,  and  bears  the  date  '' Leyden, 
April  28,  Anno  1625."  It  was  addressed  to  Brad- 
ford, and  the  paragraph  in  reference  to  Robinson 's 
death  is  as  follows : 

''These  [letters]  therefore  are  to  give   you  to 


LAST  YEARS  IN  LEYDEN  313 

understand,  that  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  take 
out  of  this  veil  of  tears  your  and  our  loving 
and  faithful  pastor,  and  my  dear  brother,  Mr. 
John  Robinson,  who  was  sick  some  eight  days, 
l)eginning  first  to  be  sick  on  a  Saturday  morning^ 
yet  the  next  day,  being  the  Lord's  day,  he  taught 
us  twice,  and  the  week  after  grew  every  day 
weaker  than  other,  yet  felt  no  pain  but  weakness, 
all  the  time  of  his  sickness:  the  physic  he  took 
wrought  kindly,  in  man's  judgment,  yet  he  grew 
every  day  weaker  than  other,  feeling  little  or 
no  pain,  yet  sensible,  till  the  very  last.  Who  fell 
sick  the  twenty-second  of  February,  and  departed 
this  life  the  first  of  March.  He  had  a  continual 
inward  ague,  which  brought  the  [flux]  but  I  thank 
the  Lord,  was  free  of  the  plague,  so  that  all  his 
friends  could  come  freely  to  him.  And  if  either 
prayers,  tears,  or  means  would  have  saved  his  life, 
he  had  not  gone  hence.  But  he  having  faithfully 
finished  his  course,  and  performed  his  work,  which 
the  Lord  had  appointed  him  here  to  perform;  he 
now  rests  with  the  Lord,  in  eternal  happiness. 
We  wanting  him  and  all  church  Governours,  not 
having  one  at  present  that  is  a  governing  officer 
among  us."  ^ 

White  speaks  also  of  the  great  weakness  of  the 
Leyden  remnant  of  the  church  since  Robinson's 
death,  and  their  yearning  to  be  with  the  brethren 
in  America. 

'  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll..  Vol.  3,  1794,  p.  40. 


314  JOHN  ROBINSON 

The  second  letter  was  from  Thomas  Blossom 
to  Bradford  and  Brewster,  and  bore  the  date 
''Leyden,  December  15,  Anno  1625/' 

He  speaks  of  the  way  in  which  the  Lord  has 
seemed  to  cross  the  success  of  those  means  which 
had  been  used  to  bring  the  separated  sections  of 
the  church  together,  and  especially  that  one, 

"which  would  have  been  so  comfortable  unto  us 
in  that  course,  both  for  wisdom  of  counsel  as  also 
for  our  singular  help  in  our  course  of  godliness; 
whom  the  Lord  (as  it  were)  took  away  even  as 
fruit  falleth  before  it  was  ripe;  when  neither 
length  of  days,  nor  infirmity  of  body  did  seem  to 
call  for  his  end.  The  Lord  even  then  took  him 
away,  as  it  were  in  his  anger ;  whom  if  tears  would 
have  held,  he  had  remained  to  this  day.  The  loss 
of  his  ministry  was  very  great  unto  me,  for  I  ever 
counted  myself  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  it, 
notwithstanding  all  the  crosses  and  losses,  other- 
wise I  sustained.  Yet  indeed  the  manner  of  his 
taking  away  hath  more  troubled  me,  as  fearing 
the  Lord's  anger  in  it,  that,  as  I  said,  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  things,  might  still  have  remained, 
as  also,  the  singular  service  he  might  have  yet 
done  in  the  church  of  God.  Alas!  dear  friends, 
our  state  and  cause  in  religion  by  his  death  being 
wholly  destitute  of  any  that  may  defend  our  cause 
as  it  should  against  our  adversaries."  ^ 

The  news  of  their  pastor's  death  struck  the 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  CoU.,  Vol.  3,  1794,  p.  41. 


L,l.S7'    YEAIIS  IX  LEYDEN  315 

church  in  Plymouth  with  the  deepest  sorrow. 
Tliev  thought  how  tlieir  enemies  had  j)lotted 
against  the  pastor's  coming  to  them,  and  how 
''the  Lord  had  appointed  him  a  better  place." 
They  heard  of  the  death  of  King  James  of  Eng- 
land and  of  Prince  Maurice,  who,  White  wrote, 
''both  departed  this  life  since  my  brother  Robin- 
son." Bradford  copied  the  letter  into  his  His- 
tory, adding,  "Death  makes  no  difference."  So 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  King  James  came  at  about 
the  time  Robinson's  earthly  ministry  ended,  as 
it  had  begun  about  the  year  in  which  Robinson 
first  decided  for  the  Separation.  The  man  on 
the  throne  in  England  and  the  man  fighting  for 
freedom  in  Scrooby  and  Holland  lived  each  his 
own  life;  it  is  for  the  Maker  of  all  men  to  say  which 
one  was  the  better,  braver  and  more  helpful. 

At  this  point  we  come  face  to  face  with  one  of 
the  vexed  Cj[uestions  in  the  story  of  Robinson's 
life.  Writing  concerning  the  character  of  the  pas- 
tor, Winslow,  in  his  "Brief  Narration"  says: 

''When  God  took  him  away  from  them  and  us 
by  death,  the  University  and  ministers  of  the  city 
accompanied  him  to  his  grave  with  all  their  accus- 
tomed solemnities,  bewailing  the  great  loss  that 
not  only  that  particular  church  had  whereof  he 
was  pastor,  but  some  of  the  chief  of  them  sadly 
afhrmed  that  all  the  churches  of  Clirist  sustained 


316  JOHN  ROBINSON 

a  loss  by  the  death  of  that  worthy  instrument  of 
the  Gospel.''^    - 

This  report  comes  from  Winslow,  who  was  not  in 
Leyden  in  1625,  and  must,  therefore,  have  learned 
the  details  concerning  the  honor  paid  to  Robin- 
son by  ministers  and  members  of  the  University 
through  reports  from  the  Leyden  brethren. 

We  also  must  bear  in  mind  that  there  is  no 
mention  of  this  fact  in  the  letters  which  either 
White  or  Blossom  wrote  as  to  Robinson's  death, 
at  least  so  far  as  these  have  been  preserved  for 
us.  But  those  letters  do  not  refer  to  the  funeral 
in  any  way.  When,  therefore,  Sumner  uses  this 
silence  of  the  letters  as  an  argument  for  the  un- 
trustworthy character  of  the  statement  concern- 
ing the  public  funeral,^  he  is  giving  quite  too 
much  weight  to  those  documents.  He  says  that 
members  of  Robinson's  congregation  wrote  letters 
to  their  former  companions  in  Plymouth  in  which 
they  "give  minute  particulars  of  his  [Robinson's] 
death."  But  the  letters  of  Blossom  and  White 
(and  Simmer  refers  to  no  others)  are  provokingly 
indefinite  concerning  Robinson's  death,  and  they 
have  no  mention  whatever  of  the  time,  place  or 
manner  of  his  burial. 

^  See  Young,  "Chronicles,"  p.  392. 
-  See  Sumner's  "Memoirs,"  p.  54. 


LAST   YKAh'S  I.\   LINDEN  317 

A  second  arguiiicnt  used  by  Sumner  to  render 
the  evidence  of  Winslow  doubtful,  is  the  fact  that, 
at  this  time,  the  phigue  was  raging  in  Leyden,  and 
on  this  account  all  public  funerals  were  suspended. 
Sumner  reports  that  this  was  customary  in  Ley- 
den, even  if  the  deceased  had  not  died  of  the  plague. 
For  this  statement  he  offers  no  authority. 

White,  however,  asserts  distinctly  that  Robin- 
son was  not  afflicted  with  the  plague,  and  that 
his  friends  were  permitted  freely  to  see  him.  If 
this  was  true,  there  is  nothing  unlikely  in  the  state- 
ment that  Robinson's  funeral  was  attended  by 
ministers  and  members  of  the  University. 

Even  vSumner's  statement  is  not  to  be  accepted 
too  literally.  Dr.  Dexter  made  an  examination^ 
of  the  facts  which  Sumner  urges  in  support  of  his 
argument,  and  he  found  as  a  result  of  his  inves- 
tigations that  "  the  storm  [of  the  plague]  had 
passed  before  Robinson  died;  and,  though  the 
plague  may  still  have  been  lingering  in  the  city, 
it  had  at  that  time  ceased  'raging'  in  Leyden." 

Another  point  to  be  borne  in  mind  when  we 
come  to  sift  this  matter  of  a  public  funeral,  is  that 
the  words  ''accompanied  him  to  his  grave"  do 
not  refer  to  any  long  procession  or  stately  cere- 
mony.    The  place  of  burial  was  only  across  the 

'  See  Mass.  Hi.st.  Soc.  Proceedings,  January.  1872,  pp.  184,  185. 


318  JOHN  ROBINSON 

street  from  Robinson's  house.  This  house  was 
in  immediate  proximity  to  the  University  of 
which  Robinson  was  a  member  and  certainly  well 
known. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  reason  whatever,  either 
on  the  one  hand  to  infer  a  stately  ceremony  and 
great  procession  of  professors  and  preachers,  or, 
on  the  other,  to  think  of  an  obscure  and  private 
funeral.  Undoubtedly,  members  of  the  Univer- 
sity were  present;  doubtless,  the  service  was  con- 
ducted by  some  minister  of  a  R^eformed  Church 
and  the  body  of  the  Separatist  pastor  was  laid 
to  rest  with  dignity  and  honor  in  the  grave  that 
had  been  prepared  for  it  under  the  floor  of  St. 
Peter's  Church. 

For  many  years  the  location  of  Robinson's 
grave  was  unknown.  Certainly  it  was  a  mistake 
of  Prince  to  state  that  he  was  buried  in  the  chan- 
cel of  a  church  which  had  been  granted  to  his 
congregation  by  the  government.  We  have  seen 
that  no  such  grant  was  made  the  Leyden  brethren 
by  the  magistrates. 

The  credit  for  locating  the  burial  place  belongs 
to  George  Sumner,  who  found  in  a  small  closet  in 
St.  Peter  ^s  Church  at  Leyden  a  number  of  dusty 
record  books,  one  of  which  contains  a  list  of  burial 


LAST  YEARS  IN  LEYDEN  319 

fees  of  Leyden  churches.     Here,  luidcr  thf  i-ecord 
of  St.  IVter's  Church  is  found  this: 

[1625]  [florins] 

1 0  Mart .     Open  en  huer  van  Jan  Iiobens  engcls 

predekant  9 

(Opening  and  rent  for  John  Robinson,  Enghsh 

preacher,  9  florins)  ^ 

This  record,  therefore,  informs  us  that  the  sum 
of  nine  florins  was  paid  for  opening  the  grave  and 
renting  it  for  a  period  of  years.  This  payment 
was  made  six  days  after  the  interment.  There 
is  a  record  of  this  in  the  book  of  interments  of 
the  city  as  follows: 

[1625] 

4  Maart.  Jan  Roelends,  Predicant  van  de  Eng- 
elsche  Gemeente,  by  Let  Klockhuijs, — 
begraven  in  de  Pieter's  Kerk. 
(John  Robinson,  Preacher  of  the  English  congre- 
gation, by  the  Belfry, —  buried  in  the  Peter's 
Church). 

Two  points  are  of  interest  in  this  matter  of 
the  interment  and  rent.  Sunmer  claimed  that  the 
sum,  nine  florins,  was  the  lowest  paid  for  any  per- 
son whose  burial  is  recorded.^  This  seemed  to 
him  to  indicate  a  condition  of  considerable  pov- 
erty, since  only  journeymen-weavers  and  persons 

'  Facsimile  in  Sumner's  "Memoirs,"'  opposite  p.  71. 
'  Tbid.,  p.  56. 


320  JOHN  ROBINSON 

from  the  humblest  walks  of  life  paid  such  small 
sums  for  grave  rent.  Dr.  Dexter,  however,  inves- 
tigated the  matter  very  thoroughly,  and  positively 
contradicts  these  statements.  He  found  from  the 
very  registers  which  Sumner  consulted  that,  out 
of  253  records  of  burial  rents  in  St.  Peter's  Church 
and  the  neighboring  churchyard  during  the  year 
1625,  only  seven  v>Tre  over  nine  florins,  eighty 
paid  nine  florins,  and  128  were  as  low  as  four  florins. 
The  average  of  all  is  a  little  over  six  florins.  And 
it  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  rent  paid  for  the 
burial-place  of  Arminius  in  1609  was  only  six 
florins. 

Therefore,  instead  of  being  a  burial  in  great 
poverty,  Robinson's  burial  was  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  that  position  of  dignity  and  influence 
which  is  assigned  to  him  by  writers  like  Winslow. 

Still  another  point  on  which  we  have  been  mis- 
informed is  the  matter  of  the  removal  of  remains 
of  bodies  from  graves  in  St.  Peter's  Church.  Sum- 
ner stated  that  the  sum  paid  for  Robinson's  burial 
was  "  only  for  the  hire,  for  a  few  years,  of  a  place 
immediately  under  the  pavement  in  one  of  a  large 
number  of  square  pits  containing  space  sufficient 
for  four  coflins.  At  the  end  of  seven  years,  these 
bodies  were  all  removed.'" 

The  unpleasant  idea,  therefore,  has  come  to    be 


LAST  YEARS  IN  LEYDEN  321 

very  geiuTal  that,  after  a  short  interval,  the  mortal 
remains  of  Robinson  were  removed  by  the  work- 
men of  the  church  from  the  spot  to  which  they 
had  been  consigned  by  the  devoted  and  bereaved 
members  of  his  remnant  church. 

This  statement  of  Sumner,  however,  was  not 
confirmed  by  M.  de  Pecker,  on  whose  authority 
Sumner  makes  it,  when,  in  1865,  Dr.  Dexter  ques- 
tioned him  concerning  it.  Sumner  had  made  the 
statements  which  we  have  been  quoting  in  his 
communication  to  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  in  1842.  In  1871,  Dr.  Dexter  investigated 
the  subject  again,  and  published  another  opinion 
on  the  authority  of  M.  de  Pecker,  reinforced  at 
this  second  investigation  by  other  satisfactory 
authorities,  that  the  bodies  buried,  as  Robinson's 
was,  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  "remained  undisturbed 
for  fifteen  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  pit 
was  opened,  the  excavation  was  made  deeper,  so  as 
to  sink  out  of  sight  irhatever  remained,  and  then  a 
new  burial  took  place  in  the  thus  remade  grave." 

On  Friday,  July  24,  1891,  a  bronze  tablet  to 
the  memory  of  Robinson  was  unveiled  in  Leyden. 
The  house  which  occupies  the  ground  on  which 
Robinson's  home  stood,  in  Belfry  Lane,  had  been 
appropriately  marked  twenty-six  years  before  by 
a  small  inscription  in  these  words: 


322  JOHN  ROBINSON 

"  On  this  spot  lived,  taught,  and  died  John  Rob- 
inson, 1611-1625." 

It  seemed  fitting  that  a  still  larger  memorial 
should  be  erected  to  Robinson  in  Ley  den.  Action 
to  this  end  was  taken  at  a  meeting  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches  in  the  United  States,  held 
in  Detroit,  Michigan,  in  1877.  A  resolution  was 
then  adopted  expressing  a  hearty  approval  of 
the  plan  to  erect  a  memorial  in  Leyden  '^to 
the  memory  of  John  Robinson,  whose  name  wdil 
ever  head  the  list  of  the  pastors  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches  of  the  United  States."  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  take  the  matter  in  charge. 
Funds  were  secured  by  subscription  in  America. 
The  committee  decided  upon  a  bronze  tablet,  to 
be  affixed  to  the  outside  wall  of  St.  Peter's  Church, 
opposite  Robinson's  house.  This  wall  contained 
a  recess  in  the  brick  work  about  seven  feet  high 
and  six  feet  wide  in  which  a  tablet  Y\'ould  be  shel- 
tered by  a  coping  of  stone.  In  this  position  the 
m.emorial  would  indicate  appropriately  the  place 
of  Robinson's  burial  and  be  near  his  house  and 
the  University.  The  tablet  bears  a  figure  of  a 
ship  in  low  relief,  under  which  are  the  words, 
''The  Mayflower,  1620."  Underneath  this  is  the 
inscription  in  severely  plain  Roman  letters  read- 
ing as  follows: 


LAST   YEARS  IX  LEYDEN  323 

IX    MEMORY    OF 

Rev.  JOHN  ROBINSON,  M.  A. 

Pastor   of  the  English  Church   WorsiTiping  over  against  this 
Spot,  A.D.  1009-1025,  whence  at  his  Prompting   went  forth 

THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS 

to  settle  New  England 
IN  1620. 


Buried  under  this  House  of  Worship,  4  Mar.  1625 
Aet   XLIX  Years. 


In  memoria  aeterna  erit  Justus. 


Erected  by  the  National  Council  of  the  Congregational 

Churches  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

A.  D.  1891. 


The  Dutch  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities 
met  the  i)roposition  to  erect  the  monument  most 
heartily,  and  representatives  of  the  city,  the  Uni- 
versity and  of  the  Reformed  Church  spoke  at  the 
exercises  of  dedication.^  They  bore  witness  to 
the  loving  memory  in  which  the  Separatist  pas- 
tor's name  is  still  held  in  Holland,  where  it  is 
forever  linked  with  the  ideals  of  religious  li])erty, 
fidelity  to  principle,  toleration,  and  loyalty  to 
revealed  truth.  This  yet  remains  in  Holland,  as 
in  America,  an  abiding  influence. 

'  See  "  Proceedings  at  the  Unveiling  of  the  John  Robinson  .Memorial 
Tablet  in  Leydcn,  Holland.  July  24.  1S91."  Boston:  Thomas  Todd,  1891. 


324  JOHN  ROBINSON 

A  larger  memorial  to  the  life  and  character  of 
Robinson  is  the  church  building  erected  in  Gains- 
borough, the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  June 
29,  1896,  by  United  States  Ambassador  Thomas 
F.  Bayard.  Toward  the  completion  of  the  struc- 
ture the  Congregational  churches  in  America  made 
a  generous  contribution  in  witness  of  their  debt 
to  Robinson.  The  building  is  fittingly  placed  in 
Gainsborough,  not  because  this  is  surely  the  place 
of  his  birth,  but  because  the  city  is  so  closely  con- 
nected with  the  Separatist  movement  and  it  seems 
quite  certain  with  Robinson  himself. 

Before  turning  from  the  records  of  these  last  five 
years  of  Robinson's  life,  it  is  necessary  to  take  up 
a  question  which  arises  concerning  his  relation  to 
the  Reformed  Churches.  There  are  certain  docu- 
ments which  demand  consideration  before  an 
opinion  can  be  rendered. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  testimony  of  Governor 
Edward  Winslow  concerning  the  practice  of  Ley  den 
Church  and  its  pastor,  published  in  his  ''Hj^poc- 
risie  Unmasked,"  from  which  we  have  already 
quoted  on  pages  244-247.     Winslow  says : 

''I  am  earnestly  requested  to  clear  up  another 
gross  mistake  which  caused  many,  and  still  doth, 
to  judge  the  harder  of  New  England  and  the 
churches  there  '  because  (say  they)  the  Church  of 


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LAST  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  325 

Plynioulli.  which  went  first  from  I.eydcn,  wore 
Schismatics,  Brownists,  rigid  Separatists,  <fec.,  hav- 
ing Mr.  Robinson  for  their  pastor,  who  made 
and  to  the  last  professed  separation  from  the 
other  churches  of  Christ,  &c.  And  the  rest  of 
the  churclies  in  New  England,  holding  conmiun- 
ion  with  that  church,  are  to  be  reputed  such  as 
they  are.' 

'Tor  answer  to  this  aspersion,  first,  he  that  knew 
Mr.  Robinson  either  by  his  doctrine  daily  taught, 
or  hath  read  his  '  Apology,'  published  not  long 
before  his  death,  or  knew  the  practice  of  that 
church  of  Christ  under  his  government,  or  was 
acquainted  with  the  wholesome  counsel  he  gave 
that  part  of  the  church  which  went  for  New  Eng- 
land at  their  departure  and  afterward,  might 
easily  resolve  the  doubt  and  take  olY  the  asper- 
sion. 

'Tor  his  doctrine,  I  living  three  years  under  his 
ministry,  before  we  began  the  work  of  plantation 
in  New  England,  it  was  always  against  separation 
from  any  of  the  churches  of  Christ;  professing  and 
holding  communion  both  with  the  French  and 
Dutch  churches,  yea,  tendering  it  to  the  Scotch 
also,  as  I  shall  make  appear  more  particularly  anon; 
ever  holding  forth  how  wary  persons  ought  to  be  in 
separating  from  a  Church,  and  that  till  Christ  the 
Lord  departed  wholly  from  it,  man  ought  not  to 
leave  it,  only  to  bear  witness  against  the  corrup- 
tion that  was  in  it. 

"  But  if  any  object,  he  separated  from  the  Church 
of  p]ngland  and  wrote  largely  against  it,  but  yet 


326  JOHN  ROBINSON 

let  nie  tell  you  he  allowed  hearing  the  godly  minis- 
ters preach  and  pray  in  the  public  assemblies;  yea, 
he  allowed  private  communion^  not  only  wdth  them, 
but  all  that  were  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus  in  the  king- 
dom and  elsewhere  upon  all  occasions ;  yea,  honored 
them  for  the  power  of  godliness,  above  all  other  the 
professors  of  religion  in  the  world.' ^^ 

"Tis  true,  I  confess,  he  was  more  rigid  in  his 
course  and  way  at  first  than  toward  his  latter  end; 
for  his  study  was  peace  and  union,  so  far  as  might 
agree  with  faith  and  a  good  conscience;  and  for 
schism  and  division,  there  was  nothing  in  the  world 
more  hateful  to  him.  But  for  the  government  of 
the  Church  of  England,  as  it  was  in  the  Episcopal 
way,  the  Liturgy,  and  stinted  praj^ers  of  the  Church 
then,  yea,  the  constitution  of  it  as  National,  and 
so  consequently  the  corrupt  communion  of  the  un- 
worthy with  the  worthy  receivers  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  these  things  were  never  approved  of  him, 
but  witnessed  against  to  his  death,  and  are  by  the 
church  over  which  he  was,  to  this  day." 

^'The  next  thing  I  would  have  the  reader  take 
notice  of  is,  that  however  the  Church  of  Ley  den 
differed  in  some  particulars,  [it]  yet  made  no  schism 
or  separation  from  the  Reformed  Churches,  but 
held  communion  with  them  occasionally.  For  we 
ever  placed  a  large  difference  between  those  that 
grounded  their  practice  upon  the  word  of  God, 
(though  differing  from  us  in  the  exposition  or  un- 

^  For  the  definition  of  private  as  distinct  from  public  communion  see 
pp.  170,  171. 

-  Robinson  remained  English  to  the  core,  honoring  the  piety  of  his 
fellow  countrymen  even  when  driven  into  Separation. 


LA^T  YEARS  IX  LKYDEN'  327 

derstanding  of  it)  and  those  that  hated  such  Re- 
formers and  Reformation,  and  went  on  in  anti- 
christian  opposition  to  it  and  persecution  of  it,  as 
the  late  Lord  Bishops  (Ud,  who  would  not  in  deed 
and  truth  (whatever  their  pretences  were)  that 
Christ  should  rule  over  them." 

"As  for  the  Dutch,  it  was  usual  for  our  members 
that  understood  the  language  and  lived  in  or  occa- 
sionally came  over  to  Leyden,  to  communicate 
with  them,  as  one  John  Jenny,  a  brewer,  long  did, 
his  wife  and  family,  &c.,  and  without  any  offence 
to  the  church." 

"And  for  the  French  churches,^  that  we  held 
and  do  hold  communion  with  them,  take  notice 
of  our  practice  at  Lej^den,  viz.,  that  one  vSamuel 
Terry  was  received  from  the  French  church  there 
into  communion  with  us." 

"For  the  truth  is,  the  Dutch  and  French 
churches,  either  of  them  being  a  people  distinct 
from  the  world,  and  gathered  into  a  holy  commun- 
ion, and  not  national  churches, — nay  so  far  from 
it  as  I  verily  believe  the  sixth  person  is  not  of  the 
church, — the  difference  is  so  small  (if  moderately 
pondered  between  them  and  us)  as  we  dare  not 
for  the  world  den}-  connnunion  with  them."^ 

This  statement  b}^  Winslow  furnishes  the  back- 
ground for  an  estimate  of  the  significance  of  two 
other  documents  which  are  concerned  with  Robin- 
son's relations  to  the  Reformed  Churches. 

'  These  were  Reformed  churches,  like  the  Dutch, 

-  YounR,  "  Chronicles,"  Boston,  1841,  pp.  .387-395.  Also  "  Hypocrisie 
Unmaskeil,"      104(>.  (copy  in  Boston  Public  LiVirary').  pp.  P2-9tj. 


328  JOHN  ROBINSON 

The  first  of  these  is  the  ''Seven  Articles  which 
ye  Church  of  Leyden  sent  to  ye  Counsell  of  Eng- 
lancr^  in  1618/  to  wliich  reference  has  been  made 
on  page  232.   The  articles  are  brief  and  as  follows: 

1.  To  ye  confession  of  fayth  published  in  ye 
name  of  ye  Church  of  England  &  to  every  artikell 
theerof  wee  do  w*^  ye  reformed  churches  wheer 
wee  live  &  also  els  where  assent  wholy. 

2.  As  wee  do  acknolidg  ye  docktryne  of  fayth 
theer  tawght  so  do  wee  ye  fruites  and  effeckts  of 
ye  same  docktryne  to  ye  begetting  of  saving  fayth 
in  thousands  in  ye  land  (conformistes  &  reformistes) 
as  ye  ar  called  w*^  whom  also  as  w*^  our  bretheren 
wee  do  desyer  to  keepe  sperituall  communion  in 
peace  and  will  pracktis  in  our  parts  all  lawful! 
thinges. 

3.  The  King's  Majesty  wee  acknolidg  for  Su- 
preame  Governer  in  his  Dominion  in  all  causes  and 
over  all  parsons  [sic],  and  y  none  maye  decklyne  or 
apeale  from  his  authority  or  judgment  in  any  cause 
whatsoever,  but  y  in  all  thinges  obedience  is  devv^e 
unto  him,  ether  active,  if  ye  thing  commanded  be 
not  agaynst  God's  woord,  or  passive  3^f  itt  bee, 
except  pardon  can  bee  obtayned. 

4.  Wee  judg  itt  lawfull  for  his  Majesty  to  apo^mt 
bishops,  civill  overseers,  or  officers  in  awthoryty 
onder  hime,  in  ye  severall  provinces,  dioses,  con- 
gregations or  parrishes  to  oversee  ye  Churches  and 
governe  them  civilly  according  to  ye  Lawes  of  ye 

'  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc,  "  Collections,"  Series  2.  Vol.  iii,  Part  i,  pp.  293  302. 


LAST   YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  329 

Land,  untto  whom  ye  ar  in  all  thinges  to  gove  an 
account  (k  by  them  to  bee  ordered  accordhig  to 
Godlynes. 

5.  The  authoryty  of  ye  present  bishops  in  ye 
Land  wee  do  acknolidg  so  far  forth  as  ye  same  is 
indeed  derived  from  his  Majesty  untto  them  and 
as  ye  proseed  in  his  name,  whom  wee  will  also 
theerein  honor  in  all  things  and  hime  in  them. 

6.  Wee  beleeve  yt  no  sinod,  classes,  convocation 
or  assembly  of  Ecclesiasticall  Officers  hath  any 
power  or  awthoryty  att  all  but  as  ye  same  by  y® 
Majestraet  geven  unto  them. 

7.  Lastly,  wee  desyer  to  geve  untto  all  Superiors 
dew  honnor  to  preserve  ye  unity  of  ye  sperritt 
wtb  all  y  feare  God,  to  have  peace  w^^  all  men 
what  in  us  lyeth  &:  wheerein  wee  err  to  bee  in- 
structed by  any.     Subscribed  by 

John  Robinson 

and 
Willy  AM  Bruster." 

These  articles  were  written  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  minimizing  the  differences  between  the  Sep- 
aratists and  the  Reformed  Churches  in  order  that 
the  English  authorities  might  more  readily  grant 
the  request  of  Leyden  Church  to  remove  to  America. 
They  must  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  Robin- 
son's "Apology,"  issued  a  year  later,  especially 
chapters  11  and  12,  "  Of  Civil  Magistrates"  and  "  Of 
the  Church  of  England."^     The  "Articles"  simply 

>  Works.  3:62-79. 


330  JOHN  ROBINSON 

.express  in  concise  form  propositions  which  are 
more  fully  elaborated  in  the  ^'Apology."  They 
show  Robinson's  growing  agreement  with  the  faith 
and  practice  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  but  they 
do  not  contain  the  least  suggestion  that  he  ever 
considered  the  Separation  unnecessary  or  person- 
ally stood  ready  to  abandon  it.  The  statements 
of  the  "Apology"  are  definite  in  this  regard.  Rob- 
inson held  steadfastly  that  the  constitution  of  the 
Church  of  England  was  such  that  he  must  "  make  a 
plain  secession  and  separation  from  it."^  He  could 
not  give  the  honor  to  it  that  was  due  "to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  rightly  collected  and  consti- 
tuted."^ The  kindlier  regard  in  which  he  came  to 
hold  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  for  their 
personal  Christian  faith  and  character  did  not  alter 
his  judgment  that  the  episcopate  as  defined  by 
Robert  Parker  was  a  false  and  tyrannical  institu- 
tion.^ In  short,  the  Separation  from  the  Church 
of  England  was  maintained  to  the  last  by  Robin- 
son, however  closel}^  he  might  have  been  drawn 
toward  fellowship  with  the  Reformed  churches. 

The  last  document  to  be  considered  is  from  the 
Amsterdam  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  records, 

'  Works,  3:63. 
-  Ibid.,  p.  64. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  69. 


L.1.ST  YEAI^S  IX  LI:YDEN  331 

discovered  1)V  Dr.  Henry  Martyn  Dexter  in  1872,  a 
facsimile  of  which  lias  been  published.^  It  is  a  sin- 
gle folio  sheet,  written  in  two  hands.  The  text  in 
either  case  seems  to  correspond  with  the  signature, 
so  that  we  probably  have  here  a  document  written 
and  signed  by  the  two  men  whose  names  it  bears. 
The  translation  is  as  follows: 

I,  the  undersigned,  declare  by  this  that  D.  Rub- 
bensonus,  minister  of  the  English  church  in  this 
place,  which  is  called  that  of  the  Brownists,  has 
sjDoken  with  me  many  times  of  the  schism  between 
their  congregation  and  the  congregation  of  the 
other  English  in  this  country;  and  that  he  has  tes- 
tified many  times  that  he  w'as  inclined  to  do  his 
best  to  remove  this  schism  between  them  and  the 
others ;  also,  that  he  did  not  intend  to  bring  up  his 
son  as  a  minister  of  such  a  congregation,  but  much 
preferred  to  have  his  service  employed  in  the  Dutch 
congregations;  furthermore,  to  this  end  he  had 
begun,  through  the  good  offices  of  D.  Telius  and 
me,  to  move  some  good  people  in  Middelburg  that 
they  might  furnish  some  honest  support  for  his 
son's  studies  for  some  years;  further,  he  has  delcared 
to  me  many  times  that,  finding  here  so  many  diffi- 
culties in  his  congregation  in  the  way  of  accom- 
plishing this,  he  had  therefore  resolved  upon  re- 
moving with  a  good  part  of  his  congregation  to 
the  West  Indies,  where  he  did  not  doubt  that  he 

'"Testimonium  to  John  Robinson  by  A.  Walaeus.  Photolithogra- 
phic facsimile  with  modern  transcript  and  English  translation."  Boston 
Public  Library  *  *  G.  31.  83  .\. 


332  JOHN  ROBINSON 

could  carry  out  this  design.     This  has  passed  be- 
tween us  in  this  way  many  times. 
Datum  in  Leyden  25  May,  1628. 

Antonius  Walaeus, 

Professor  of  Sacred  Theology. 

What  has    been    testified   here   above   on    the 
union  of  both  the  English  churches  in  this  country, 
I,  the  undersigned,  declare  also  to  have  heard  from 
D.  Robinson,  late  deceased. 
At  Leyden,  26  May  a.  1628. 

Festus  Hommius, 

Coll.  Theol.  Regens. 


Concerning  the  circumstances  under  which  this 
paper  was  prepared,  its  history,  and  the  reason  for 
its  preservation,  I  am  not  able  to  gain  any  satis- 
factory information,  and  am  thrown  back  entirely 
upon  internal  evidence  as  to  its  m^eaning.  There 
is  nothing  to  warrant  any  grave  doubt  as  to  the 
genuineness  of  the  document.  Its  authors  were 
members  of  the  divinity  faculty  of  Leyden  Univer- 
sity. They  v/ere  trustworthy  men.  They  state 
that  they  enjoyed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
Robinson,  which  adds  still  further  weight  of  evi- 
dence to  our  belief  that  he  held  a  dignified  and 
closely  personal  relationship  to  the  University,  as 
Winslow  states  that  he  did. 


LAST  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  333 

Two  poiiit.s  are  noteworthy: 

1.  What  is  meant  by  the  other  EngHsh  congre- 
gation or  churches  ''in  this  country"?  Evidently 
it  does  not  mean  Leyden,  for  Walaeus  describes 
Robinson  as  ''minister  of  the  EngHsh  church  in 
this  ])lace";  if  he  liad  meant  congregations  in  Ley- 
den he  would  naturally  have  written  "the  congre- 
gation of  the  other  English  here,''  rather  than  ''in 
this  country.^'  Hommius  also  uses  "country"  in- 
stead of  "city."  It  would  hardly  seem  to  refer 
simply  to  the  Sepai'atist  churches  in  Amsterdam, 
for  the  schism  between  them  was  not  great  enough 
to  warrant  the  emphasis  laid  upon  it  here. 

Perhaps  light  may  be  thrown  upon  the  matter 
from  the  "Apology,"  where  Robinson  says:  "Our 
faith  is  not  negative,  as  papists  used  to  object  to 
the  evangelical  churches;  nor  which  consists  in  the 
condemning  of  others,  and  wiping  their  names  out 
of  the  bead-roll  of  churches,  but  in  the  edifying  of 
ourselves;  neither  require  we  of  any  of  ours,  in  the 
confession  of  their  faith,  that  they  either  renounce, 
or,  in  one  word,  contest  with  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, whatsoever  the  world  clamours  of  us  this  way. 
Our  faith  is  founded  upon  the  writings  of  the  proph- 
ets and  apostles,  in  which  no  mention  of  the  Church 
of  England  is  made.  We  deem  it  our  duty  what 
is  found  in  them  to  '  believe,  with  the  heart  to  right- 


334  JOHN  ROBINSON 

eousness,  and  to  confess  with  the  tongue  to  salva- 
tion.'    Rom.  X.  10."  1 

Before  1625  Robinson,  while  still  holding  to 
Separation,  as  we  have  just  shown,  had  perceived 
that  the  remains  of  his  church,  with  which  he  was 
compelled  to  stay  in  Holland,  must  be  built  up 
on  a  positive  faith,  to  which  the  Separation  was 
not  essential  as  a  saving  doctrine.  This  ideal  he 
evidently  sought  to  realize,  and  was  ready  to  w^el- 
come  members  to  his  congregation  from  the  body 
of  all  English-speaking  Christians  in  Holland. 
There  is  certainly  no  other  practical  interpretation 
to  give  to  these  words  from  the  ^'Apology,''  and 
this  seems  also  to  explain  the  purpose  of  Robinson 
attested  to  by  the  document  under  consideration. 
Robinson  was  not  aiming  at  the  organic  union  of 
any  two  English-speaking  congregations,  so  much 
as  the  building  up  of  a  congregation  on  a  positive 
basis,  of  which  the  Separation,  although  a  part, 
was  not  an  essential  element. 

2.  The  removal  to  the  West  Indies  referred  to  is 
open  to  question.  Does  it  mean  the  general  dis- 
cussion of  the  movement  to  America  which  took 
place  in  1620?  Or  did  Robinson,  finding  himself 
prevented  from  going  to  Plymouth,  hope  to  go  to 
another  place  in  the  New  World  with  a  congrega- 

1  Works,  3:63. 


LAST  YEARS  IN  LEY  DEN  335 

tion  gathered  on  this  broader  basis?  There  is  no 
record  elsewhere  of  the  latter  purpose.  White  and 
Blossom  did  not  know  of  it.  Robinson  always 
desired  to  go  to  Plymouth.  The  most  reasonable 
interpretation  of  the  document  would  make  this 
refer  to  Robinson's  persistent  desire  to  go  to  Ply- 
mouth with  his  Leyden  congregation. 

The  fact  that  he  was  desirous  of  having  his  son 
educated  for  the  ministry  in  the  Reformed  Church 
is  not  strange;  it  implies  no  abandonment  of  the 
Separation  or  repudiation  of  the  twelfth  chapter 
of  the  "Apology."'  Robinson  was  in  closest  sym- 
pathy with  the  Reformed  Church;  he  finally  saw 
no  future  for  a  Separatist  church  in  Leyden,  even 
in  the  light  of  his  ideal  for  its  broader  and  more 
positive  structure;  the  Reformed  Church  seemed 
therefore  the  best  place  for  his  son  to  exercise  his 
ministry. 

If  we  were  to  make  a  conjecture  concerning  the 
significance  of  the  document  which  we  have  thus 
considered  it  would  be  this:  when,  after  Robinson's 
death,  members  of  his  family  and  church  desired  to 
enter  the  fellowship  of  the  Reformed  churches,  this 
testimonial  from  tlieological  professors  who  knew 
him  was  drawn  up,  in  order  that  th.eir  admission 
might  be  made  easier  and  their  heartier  welcome 
assured.  The  testimonial  itself  is  explained  by 
the  '^  Apology,"  with  which  it  is  consistent. 


XV 
THE  MAN  AND    HIS   PLACE  IN  HISTORY 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE    MAX   AND    HIS    PLACE    IN    HISTORY 

There  is  no  picture  and  no  recorded  description 
of  Robinson.  We  have  nothing  from  which  to 
make  any  inference  as  to  his  personal  appearance. 
We  do  know  the  character  of  his  mind  and  heart 
and  the  sweetness  and  strength  of  his  spirit,  how- 
ever, and  this  is  far  more  important. 

Naturally  the  first  light  in  which  we  tend  to 
regard  him  is  as  a  controversialist  and  a  defender 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Separation.  To  the  major- 
ity, without  doubt,  the  mention  of  Robinson's 
name  suggests  a  stern,  rigid  defender  of  a  faith. 

Therefore,  we  will  consider  Robinson  briefly  as 
he  stands  before  us  in  the  attitude  of  a  controver- 
sialist. We  must  remember  that  he  entered  this 
field,  not  because  he  chose  to  do  so  in  obedience 
to  any  native  bent  in  disposition,  but  because  he 
was  forced  to  do  so.  His  desire  was  for  pastoral 
work  and  not  for  contention  or  controversy. 

AVhen  he  once  became  a  champion  he  was  pro- 
nounced and  persistent.     He  records  the  struggle 

339 


340  JOHN  ROBINSON 

through  which  he  passed  in  entering  the  Separa- 
tion, and  then  confesses  that  he  carried  it  to  the 
bitter  end.  The  spirit  in  which  he  carried  on  his 
battles,  however,  was  irenic.     As  AVinslow  says, 

"  His  study  was  peace  and  union  so  far  as  might 
agree  with  faith  and  a  good  conscience;  and  for 
schism  and  division,  there  was  nothing  in  the 
world  more  hateful  to  him.''  ^ 

There  is  abundant  proof  of  this  on  every  side 
when  we  come  to  his  preserved  writings.  Perhaps 
there  is  not  a  better  illustration  of  this  than  the 
preface  to  his  ^'Lawfulness  of  Hearing,''  which 
has  already  been  quoted  on  pages  179-182. 

Robinson  was  honest  in  the  use  of  a  conflicting 
argument.  This  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
practice  of  many  of  those  opposing  him.  One 
who  reads  widely  in  the  literature  of  controversy 
soon  learns  to  expect  from  any  controversialist 
the  claim  that  the  adverse  party  has  dealt  unfairly 
with  his  arguments.  Robinson  occasionally  makes 
this  complaint,  but  expressly  disavows  any  inten- 
tion to  use  such  a  method  himself.  He  sought  to 
state  the  positions  of  his  antagonists,  he  says, 
'^  without  any  the  least  wrong  (to  my  knowledge) 
unto  him  or  his  cause;  as,  having  left  out  nothing 

^  "Hypocrisie  Unmasked,"  p.  93,  quoted  in  Dexter,  "Congregational- 
ism as  Seen"  p.  406. 


THE  MAN  AND  HIS  PLACE  341 

in  liiis  writing,  which  might  seem  to  bring  advan- 
tage to  his  purpose."^  We  have  found  no  cases 
in  which  Robinson's  opponents  claim  that  he  has 
been  dishonest  in  his  treatment  of  their  attitude. 

He  was  sometimes  harsh  in  his  invective, "  but 
it  was  the  custom  and  spirit  of  the  time,  and, 
as  we  have  noticed  elsewhere,  w'hen  Robinson's 
terms  are  compared  with  those  employed  by  the 
other  Separatists,  or,  almost  without  exception, 
by  any  of  the  controversialists  of  the  time,  they 
are  far  less  harsh. 

There  is  always  one  greatest  fact  about  a  man. 
If  we  grasp  that  fact,  w^e  have  the  secret  of  his 
strength  and  the  clue  to  the  interpretation  of  his 
character.  The  character  of  Robinson  must  be 
interpreted  from  the  standpoint  of  religion.  Reli- 
gion seemed  to  him  the  principal  thing  about  a 
nation  or  about  an  individual.'^  It  certainly  was 
the  principal  fact  about  him.  He  tells  his  friends 
that  the  two  realms  in  which  he  takes  his  chief 
delight  are  divinity  and  logic*  We  may  question 
the  soundness  of  his  logic,  but  never  the  con- 
sistency of  his  religion.  He  conceived  religion 
on  its   personal   side   as   that   relationship  which 

'  Works,  3:286. 
■'Ibid.,  3:  285,  305. 
Mbid.,  1:32. 
♦Ibid..  3:  330. 


342  JOHN  ROBINSON 

the  individual  bears  to  his  God.^  The  reUgious 
man,  as  Robinson  regarded  him,  recognized 
always  the  relations  of  civil  society.  The  obliga- 
tions of  family  and  state  are  not  dissolved  by 
religion;  they  are  sanctified  by  it.  The  sanction 
of  good  government  and  stable  homes  is  religion. 
John  Robinson  never  inclined  in  the  least  toward 
a  hierarchy.  He  defended  the  state  and  the  civil 
ruler,  and  taught  that  the  same  obedience  was  due 
the  magistrate,  whether  he  were  a  Christian  or  a 
pagan.  No  tendency  such  as  that  which  resulted 
in  the  anarchy  at  Muenster  found  sanction  in 
Robinson's  teaching. 

We  have  taken  a  brief  view  of  Robinson's  the- 
ology in  the  consideration  of  the  defense  of  the 
Dort  creed.  The  religious  life  of  Robinson  is 
more  winsome  than  his  dogma.  The  sternness  of 
his  theology  is  more  pronounced  than  the  rigor 
of  his  personal  religious  life.  That  life  gathers 
about  a  personal  relationship  between  his  own 
soul  and  God.  It  is  the  God  of  the  Covenant 
who  rules  in  the  world  that  he  has  made.  Rob- 
inson does  not  lay  as  great  emphasis  upon  the 
personal,  spiritual  mastership  of  Jesus,  or  the 
discipleship  of  the  Christian,  as  he  does  upon 
the  covenant  obligation  of  the  individual  soul  to 

'  Works,  1 :  33. 


THE  MAN  AND  HIS  PLACE  343 

God.     His  religious  life  centere(l  itself  in  CJod  the 
Father. 

His  whole  view  of  the  world  was  colored  by 
his  personal  religion.  This  is  seen  in  his  concep- 
tion of  the  phj'sical  order,  which  is  the  work  of 
God's  hands.  ''The  artisan  leaves  his  work,  being 
once  formed,  to  himself,"  he  says,  ''but  God,  by 
continual  influx,  preserves  and  orders  both  the 
being  and  motions  of  all  creatures."^  The  man- 
ner in  which  Robinson  seems  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  great  laws  according  to  which  the  natural 
order  is  controlled  is  exceedingly  interesting.  The 
sun  and  moon  and  stars  have  such  an  influence 
upon  the  earth  that  they  are  able  "to  change, 
order,  and  dispose  the  air,  earth  and  water."  They 
are  thus  seen  to  be  endowed  with  virtues  "far 
above  the  most  precious  pearls,  or  any  earthly 
quintessence."  (Job  38:  31-33.)  Their  position 
produces  the  natural  changes  which  we  see  in  the 
air  and  water.  At  the  same  time  it  does  not 
remove  the  personal  activity  of  God  from  the 
physical  world.  It  rather  makes  God's  personal 
presence  the  more  necessary,  just  as  the  complex 
variety  of  a  clock's  movements  is  a  tribute  to  the 
wisdom  and  skill  of  the  man  who  made  the  clock. 
In  this  way  Robinson  sought  to  do  justice  to  the 

•  Works   1:  1.5. 


344  JOHN  ROBINSON 

ordered  course  of  the  physical  universe,  and  also 
save  the  doctrine  of  God's  personal  presence  in  it 
as  its  Creator  and  Governor. 

There  is  nothing  in  Robinson's  writings  to 
show  that  he  found  delight  in  the  natural  world 
for  its  own  sake.  The  world  seemed  to  him  to 
manifest  God;  but  there  is  nowhere  any  sign  that 
he  rejoiced,  like  Luther,  in  woods  and  flowers, 
sunny  days  and  blue  skies.  The  great  German 
could  feed  his  soul  on  the  outlook  over  the  beau- 
tiful Thuringian  forest  from  the  Wartburg,  or 
take  keen  delight  in  an  excursion  from  AVitten- 
berg  into  the  country  Of  this  there  is  no  evidence 
in  Robinson.  Not  once  does  he  express  any  re- 
joicing in  the  beauty  of  rural  England  or  Holland. 

Robinson's  conception  of  the  social  order  is 
colored  very  often  by  his  sense  of  the  prevalence 
and  awfulness  of  human  sin.  There  is  little  true 
good  in  the  world,  he  says: 

''In  heaven  is  only  rest  without  labor;  in  hell, 
restless  pain  and  torment:  and  as  sin  makes  the 
earth,  which  is  between  both,  liker  to  hell,  than 
heaven;  so  God  for  sin  hath  given  to  the  sons  of 
man  sore   travail  to   afflict  them  upon  earth."  ^ 

Robinson  thought  of  the  awful  punishments  in- 
flicted upon  sinners,  and  there  seemed  to  be  noth- 

1  Works,  1:114. 


THE  MAN  AND  HIS  PLACE  345 

ing  fearful  enough  to  warrant  it;  but  when  he 
looked  around  in  daily  life  and  saw  the  manner 
in  which  men  lived  in  sheer  contempt  of  God,  it 
seemed  to  him  as  if  no  punishment  could  be  severe 
enough  for  sin.^ 

Robinson  is  not  a  pessimist  and  purveyor  of 
despair,  however;  there  is  another  side  to  his 
view  of  life.  All  men  are,  he  confesses,  the  chil- 
dren of  wrath,  and  the  world  is  lost  in  sin;  but 
upon  this  dark  background  appears  the  full  radi- 
ance of  his  ideal  of  human  salvation.  Robinson's 
hope  and  joy  in  the  glorious  thought  of  human 
redemption  are  simply  unbounded.  His  soul 
leaps  at  the  thought  of  the  life  of  the  saints  of  God 
on  earth.  This  is  a  very  heaven.  The  little  com- 
munity of  believers  wdiom  he  served  in  the  min- 
istry was  filled  with  the  ''beauty  of  Zion  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord."  To  him  this  fact  was  an 
experimental  comfort  that  far  outweighed  the  de- 
pression which  his  sense  of  the  w^orld's  sin  might 
naturally  have  had  upon  him. 

Therefore  Robinson  was  not  a  pessimist;  his 
work  was  done  in  hopefulness,  sweetness  and 
good  cheer.  A  weaker  soul  might  have  become  a 
prophet  of  despair  if  he  were  compelled  to  reach 
his  final  conclusion  concerning  the  meaning  of  life 

'  Works,  1:214. 


346  JOHN  ROBINSON 

as  a  whole  from  this  initial  consciousness  of  the 
fearful  character  of  human  sin.  This  serious, 
somber  tendency  in  Robinson  was  offset  by  the 
sanity  and  hope  of  his  dominant  mood.  He  took 
the  same  view  of  himself  that  he  took  of  the  world. 

''When  I  consider,"  he  says,  "how  little  good 
I  myself  do,  in  my  meanness,  and  others  my  like, 
to  that  which  I  should,  and  might  do,  if  I  did 
my  utmost,  I  find  reason  to  be  most  angry  at 
myself,  and  mine  own  unprofitableness.'' 

Out  of  the  self-rebuking  conclusions  of  these  peri- 
ods of  introspection,  he  always  comes  with  his 
soul  ''filled  with  spiritual  joy."  This  joy  grows 
out  of  his  assurance  of  personal  salvation.  He 
breaks  out  at  one  time  with  this: 

"How  much  I  am  comforted  in  this  very  con- 
sideration, against  my  vile  and  corrupt  nature, 
which,  notwithstanding,  I  am  persuaded  the  Lord 
will  never  so  far  suffer  to  rebel,  as  that  it  shall  not 
be  tamed  and  subdued  by  this  strong  hand  of  God, 
without  which  it  might  every  day  and  hour  so 
hazard  my  salvation."^ 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  appreciate  such  a  tem- 
per as  this.  It  is  the  manner  in  which  Paul  looked 
at  his  life.  Sometimes  with  strong  cryings  the 
soul  breaks  forth,  "0  wretched  man  that  I  am! 
who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?" 

1  Works,  2:  227. 


THE  MAN  AND  II/S  rLACE  347 

Then  the  spirit  asserts  its  dominant  mood  and 
shouts  its  song  of  victory,  "  I  thank  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  my  Lord."  To  one  who  does  not 
appreciate  the  Christian  experience,  such  a  record 
of  seeming  conflict  between  despair  and  rejoicing 
seems  inconsistent.  Men  who  report  the  experi- 
ence are  generally  misjudged.  P>ancis  of  Assisi 
is  seen  standing  in  the  presence  of  his  angry 
fathei-,  having  renounced  even  the  clothing  that 
covered  him,  or  wandering  among  the  robbers 
on  Mount  Subasio  and  thrown  by  them  into  the 
snow.  It  all  seems  so  hard,  so  bitter  and  so  un- 
lovely! Francis  singing  for  joy  on  Mount  Subasio 
even  while  the  robbers  stripped  him;  Francis  with 
his  companions  winning  village  after  village  in  the 
Umbrian  plain,  by  the  very  contagion  of  their  joy, 
to  a  new  life  of  hope  and  righteousness: — these 
facts  are  not  regarded  by  him  who  has  taken  of- 
fense at  renunciations  and  leper  hospitals.  These 
are  the  facts  that  interpret  Francis  of  Assisi,  how- 
ever. A  more  radiantly  happy  soul  never  exulted 
before  God  than  the  man  of  utter  poverty  and 
sacrifice. 

All  the  great  exemplars  and  defenders  of  the 
Christian  faith  have  had  this  deep  distress  and 
this  supreme  rapture.  Individual  temperament 
modifies  the  experience  in    its    details;   but    the 


348  JOHN  ROBINSON 

fundamental  attitude  toward  sin  and  salvation 
is  common  to  them  all.  The  Separatist  pastor 
never  can  be  called  cold,  joyless  or  stern  by 
those  who  know  the  real  experience  of  his  heart. 

This  vivid  conception  of  the  meaning  of  personal 
salvation  resulted  in  that  passion  for  righteous- 
ness in  which  we  must  seek  more  and  more  for 
the  real  cause  of  the  Separation.  It  has  been 
common  to  hold  that  the  Separation  was  grounded 
in  a  failure  to  comprehend  the  great  law  of  devel- 
opment in  the  churcli,  through  a  lack  of  historical 
knowledge  and  appreciation;  but  chiefly  in  the 
Calvinistic  theology,  which  demanded  a  church 
made  up  of  the  elect.  ^  That  all  these  were  reasons 
for  the  Separation  is  not  to  be  denied.  The  idea 
of  development  is  given  scant  recognition  by  Rob- 
inson; and  he  was  a  Calvinist  of  the  Calvinists. 
But  all  these  interpretations  fail  to  take  sufficient 
notice  of  the  passion  for  righteousness  which  was 
the  great  practical  motive  in  the  work  of  men  like 
him.  The  Separation  was  not  a  movement  in- 
spired by  any  a  priori  idea  of  the  church  as  the 
body  of  the  elect;  it  was  not  undertaken  or  car- 
ried out  with  the  supreme  purpose  of  embodying 
a  dogma  in  an  institution.  It  was  inspired  by  a 
zeal   for  righteousness;  its   genius   was   practical 

^  See  Weingarten,  "Independentismus  und  Quaekerthum,"  pp.  12,  13. 


THE  MAX  AND  IIIS  PLACE  349 

and  not  dogmatic.  Robinson  was  a  reformer 
first  and  an  advocate  and  a  theologian  afterwards. 
So  was  Robert  Browne.  We  must  never  lose  this 
element  from  the  story  of  the  Separation. 

Robinson  was  not  a  headstrong  and  inconsid- 
erate champion  of  reform.  In  his  ''Essays"  no 
less  than  in  his  controversies  he  stands  before  us 
as  a  man  of  wide  and  discriminating  observation. 
His  catholicity  of  outlook  u])on  life  saved  him 
from  the  snare  of  bigotry  and  intolerance.  Every 
reform  is  full  of  danger.  Every  reformer  stands 
in  ])eril  of  narrowness  and  of  failure  to  compre- 
hend the  wider  relations  of  the,  cause  that  is  dear 
to  its  champion;  but  here  Robinson  does  not 
break  down. 

The  picture  is  briefly  this :  A  young,  enthusiastic 
Christian  preacher  and  pastor,  in  the  orders  of 
the  Church  of  England,  yearned  with  all  his  soul 
to  see  the  visible,  practical  results  of  his  ])reach- 
ing  and  pastoral  care  in  the  changed  lives  antl  Chris- 
tian character  of  the  people.  He  found  himself 
hemmed  in  on  every  side  by  the  theory  and  con- 
stitution of  a  state  church.  Accepting  as  he  did 
the  full,  final  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
believing  that  a  righteous  life  was  the  inevitable 
issue  of  regeneration  in  the  soul,  he  sought  the 
solution  of  his  difiiculty  in  the  New  Testament. 


350  JOHN  ROBINSON 

There  he  found  an  organization  of  the  church 
which  was  not  only  unhke  but  contrary  to  the 
parish  unit  and  the  episcopal  authority  of  the 
Church  of  England.  He  found  the  solution  of 
his  problem  in  the  complete  secession  from  the 
system  of  government  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected. His  Calvinistic  theology  helped  him  on 
to  his  decision;  but  the  first  impulse  and  the  con- 
trolling motive  in  the  entire  movement  were  prac- 
tical and  not  doctrinal. 

Robinson  was  a  man  of  wide  reading  and  fairly 
profound  learning.  His  ^^ Essays"  especially  dis- 
close acquaintance  with  the  great  classical  and 
church  writers.  These  he  does  not  treat  in  any 
critical  way,  nor  does  he  seem  to  regard  them  for 
the  intrinsic  value  of  their  style  or  thought.  He 
uses  them  rather  as  reflecting  and  illustrating 
human  life  in  its  many  aspects  and  interests.  In 
this  he  resembles  Martin  Luther.^  This  width 
of  reach  with  which  Robinson  cast  his  net,  in 
drawing  his  observations  ''out  of  the  great  vol- 
ume of  men's  manners,"  is  noteworthy.  His  lit- 
erary work  was  narrowed  for  the  most  part  to  the 
necessities  of  partisan  debate;  he  ministered  to  a 
small  community  which  was  fighting  for  life  under 
hard  conditions.     It  would  have  been  natural  for 

-  See  Kolde,  "Martin  Luther,"  1 :  41,  95. 


THE  MAN  AND  HIS  PLACE  351 

him  to  confine  his  study  to  tlio  acquisition  of  mate- 
rial to  strengthen  his  arguments  and  stay  his  soul 
in  conflict.  But  he  did  not  limit  himself  in  this 
way.  The  larger  human  mterest  never  was  lost 
in  the  heat  and  narrowness  of  partisan  conflict. 

As  a  matter  of  course  he  was  preeminently  a 
student  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  These  he 
studied  and  used  at  first  hand.  He  was  familiar 
with  the  Septuagint,  Vulgate,  and  Enghsh  trans- 
lations of  the  Bible:  he  used  commentaries  and 
interpretations.  But  his  appeal  was  always  to 
the  ''Word"  directly.^  The  critical  temper  was 
foreign  to  him.  He  has  slight  use  for  the  Church 
Fathers,  who  seemed  to  him  to  have  been  respon- 
sible for  introducing  and  defending  a  false  order 
of  the  church. 

There  is  a  merry  side  to  the  man,  as  we  have 
noticed  alread}^  from  an  examination  of  his  "Es- 
says." Many  a  dreary  page  of  painful  polemic 
is  lightened  up  by  a  jest  or  a  bit  of  humor.  His 
themes  are  serious  and  his  style  inclined  to  be 
severe.  In  the  ''Essays"  and  the  " People's  Plea" 
he  is  especially  happy  in  illustrations.  He  com- 
pares an  opponent  who  has  striven  to  make  a  good 
appearance  with  a  poor  argument  to  "the  stage- 
player,  who,  with  too  much  wiping  of  his  borrowed 

'  WorkP,  3:  297,304.  311. 


352  JOHN  ROBINSON 

beard,  pulls  it  from  his  face,  and  so  betrays  his 
bare  chin."  ^  In  another  place,  he  discovers  the 
inconsistency  in  the  arguments  of  an  opponent 
and  says  if  only  his  antagonist  had  remembered 
the  command  not  to  yoke  an  ox  and  an  ass  to- 
gether he  would  not  have  argued  so  badly. 

In  one  of  his  essays  he  turns  sharply  against 
rich  men  who  have  little  wisdom  to  save  them. 

"A  poor  and  plain  person,  seeing  a  Dives  ruffle 
in  silks  and  glitter  in  gold  and  silver,  is  half  ready 
to  worship  him  as  a  petty  god  many  times;  but 
after  finds  by  his  speech  and  other  carriage,  by 
wdiich  a  fool  and  wise  man  are  differenced,  that 
if  he  had  so  done,  he  had  but  worshipped  a  golden 
calf.  "2 

Thus  Robinson,  the  theologian,  reformer,  con- 
troversialist, had  a  merrier  side.  He  knew  how  to 
jest  as  well  as  how  to  preach  or  debate.  It  is  this 
less  known  side  of  his  personality  that  consti- 
tutes the  greater  charm  of  the  man.  He  is  not 
deficient  on  the  friendly  side  of  his  character. 
Had  he  lived  to-day  he  would  have  been  a  desira- 
ble travel-companion  for  a  summer  holiday;  one 
would  have  been  ready  to  cast  a  fly  with  him  in 
the  Maine  waters  during  the  ministerial  vacation. 

One  of  the  strongest  impressions  that  Robinson 

1  Works,  1:185. 

2  Ibid.,  1:125. 


THE  MAX  AND  HIS  PLACE  353 

makes  ii])oii  us  is  that  he  is  a  growing,  developing 
personality.  Im-oiii  the  first  clear  view  which  we 
gain  of  him  until  the  very  end  of  his  life,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  follow  him  step  by  step  in  the  course  of 
his  development.  This  fact  gives  his  character 
its  splendid  human  interest.  He  is  a  vital  part  of 
the  movement  of  his  time,  making  it  and  made 
by  it.  He  answers  our  desire  for  a  living  per- 
sonality, advancing  in  mental  grasp  and  positive 
achievement  with  the  years. 

The  strength  of  Robinson's  personality  is  best 
apprehended  by  considering  the  impression  which 
he  made  upon  his  contemporaries  and,  most  of  all, 
by  recalling  the  history  of  his  own  congregation. 

William  Bradford  and  William  Brewster  were 
strong  men.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  question. 
They  set  their  mark  deeply  upon  the  subsequent 
life  of  New  England.  And  for  a  man  to  hold  their 
deep  respect,  loyal  love  and  self-sacrificing  fol- 
lowing, as  Robinson  did,  meant  great  personal 
strength  on  the  part  of  the  pastor. 

Bradford's  tribute  to  Robinson^  is  earnest  and 
comprehensive  of  all  his  strong  qualities:  but  the 
testimony  concerning  the  impression  which  Rob- 
inson's personality  produced  is  not  confined  sim- 
ply to  the  witness  which  men  like  l^radford  bore. 

'  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation."  24  ff.      \.  E.  Memorial.  353. 


354  JOHN  ROBINSON 

The  whole  history  of  the  Leyden  church  is  the 
larger  and  conspiring  witness  to  the  same  fact. 
To  be  sure,  such  men  as  Bradford,  Brewster,  Cush- 
man,  Carver  and  Thomas  Fuller  w^re  members 
of  the  congregation,  and  that  in  itself  gave  it  a 
character  far  higher  than  the  Ancient  London 
Church  or  Smyth's  congregation  ever  had.  It  is 
useless  to  speculate  upon  the  manner  in  which 
Johnson  and  Ainsworth  might  have  prospered 
in  the  care  of  the  Leyden  congregation,  or  how 
far  John  Robinson  might  have  succeeded  in  blend- 
ing and  saving  the  discordant  elements  w^hich  made 
up  the  Ancient  London  Church.  The  fact  is  that 
the  Leyden  pastor  made  his  congregation  and  the 
congregation  made  its  pastor.  It  is  one  of  those 
rare  reactions  of  personal  influence  which  it  is  a 
joy  to  contemplate  and  a  pleasure  to  record.  The 
situation  that  confronts  us  in  history  is  simply 
this:  in  the  development  of  a  radical  movement 
involving  not  only  a  theory  of  church  govern- 
ment, but  the  founding  of  an  institution  to 
express  the  ideal,  every  effort  to  achieve  the 
practical  realization  had  gone  to  pieces,  and  the 
ideal  itself  had  become  discredited,  owing  to 
the  lack  of  a  dominant  personality  strong  enough 
and  far-sighted  enough  to  master  and  promote 
the  practical  enterprise.     At  last  a  man  emerged. 


THE  MAX  AS  I)  II  IS  PLACE  355 

ablo,  not  only  essentially  to  modify  the  ideal  and 
to  commend  it,  even  to  its  former  critics,  by  its 
sweetness  and  sanity,  but  also  to  organize  an 
institution  which  realized  the  ideal  with  almost 
perfect  success.  To  achi(n'e  tlii.^  nMiuired  a  great 
personality.  It  required  also  great  personalities 
upon  which  to  act.  To  be  a  leader  and  molder 
of  strong  men,  however,  requires  a  stronger  man. 
The  master  of  the  ideal,  the  molding  force,  upon 
Bradford  and  Brewster,  at  least  during  the  Ley- 
den  sojourn,  the  shaper  of  the  first  successful  Sep- 
aratist congregation,  and  therefore  the  virtual 
founder  of  Congregationalism,  was  John  Robinson, 
the  Pastor  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 


INDEX 


Act  of  Supremacy,  11 
Act  of  Uniformity,  11 
Ainsworth,  Henry,  Inclined  toward  Democratic  Organization 

of  the  Church  in  Amsterdam,  191 

Controversy  with  Jolmson,  193 
Ames,  WilUam,  Sketch  of,  166,  167 
Amsterdam,  Moral  and  ReHgious  Conditions  in,  SS 
Anabaptism,  Repudiated  by  Robinson,  219,  220 
Ancient  London  Church,  organized,  21;  in  Amsterdam,  89; 

relations  to  Leyden  Churcli  in  the  Johnson-Ainsworth 

quarrel,  193-198 
Anglican  Church,  a  true  Church  according  to  Canons  of  1603-4, 

25;  its  apostohc  character  denied  by  Robinson,  113 
Anghcan  Party  Defined,  12 
"Apologia"  or  "Apology, '\ occasion  of  writing,  209;  its  spirit, 

210 
Archbishops,  27 

Aristocracy,  an  element  in  Barrowism,  20 
Arminius,  James,  157 
Atonement,  Robinson's  Doctrine  of  the,  155,  156 

Baptism,  Robinson's  teaching  concerning,  220,  221 

Barrow  and  Barrowism,  19,  21 

Bastwick's  Testimony  Concerning  Robinson,  72 

Baynes,  Paul,  Robinson  hears  his  lecture,  73 

Benefice,  Plurality  of,  35,  36 

Bernard,  Rev.  Richard,  a  Puritan  preacher,  69;  formed  a 

Separatist  church. 82;  wrote  "Christian  Advertisements," 

111 


358  INDEX 

Bishops,  27 

Blossom,  Thomas,  letter  regarding  Robinson's  desire  to  go  to 
Pl3^mouth,  308;  announced  Robinson's  death,  314 

Bradford,  William,  prominent  member  of  Scrooby  congrega- 
tion, 50;  described  leading  members  of  Scrooby  Church, 
94,  95;  reported  Robinson's  dispute  with  Episcopius,  158 

Brewer,  Thomas,  arrested  in  Leyden  and  taken  to  England, 
215.  216 

Brewster,  William,  practical  religious  activity  in  England,  43; 
postmaster  at  Scrooby,  47;  service  to  Scrooby  Church, 
50,  51;  ruling  elder  in  Leyden,  205;  printed  Calderw'ood's 
"Perth  Assembly,"  215;  with  Robinson  originated  plan 
of  removal  to  America,  230;  signed  the  "'Seven  Articles," 
232,  329;  sent  to  England  by  Leyden  Church  in  1619,  234. 

Browne,  Robert,  Life  and  Teaching,  16-18 

Calderwood,  David,  invited  to  partake  of  communion  by  Rob- 
inson, 185;  friend  of  Robinson,  222 

Canons  of  1603-4,  24-38 

Carleton,  Sir  Dudley,  found  obnoxious  book  printed  by  Brev/- 
ster,  215 

Cart  Wright,  Thomas,  teaching,  13,  14 

Carver,  John,  deacon  in  Leyden,  206;  sent  to  England  by  Lej^- 
den  Church  in  1617,  231 

Chadderton,  Laurence ;  Robinson  heard  him  lecture,  72 

Church, — in  Robert  Browne's  teaching,  17;  defined  by  Rob- 
inson, 120-122;  not  to  consist  of  more  members  than  can 
meet  together  in  one  place,  210;  a  national,  attacked  by 
Robinson,  119;  gathered  mto  covenant  and  organized 
with  officers;  the  difference,  96-98 

Churches, — their  use  by  Separatists,  208,  209 

Clyfton,  Richard, — the  Separatist,  49,  50;  office  in  Scrooby 
Church,  91,  92;  dismissed  to  Ancient  London  Church,  90 

Clyfton,  Zachary, — important  entry  in  his  family  Bible,  87 

Communion, — extent    of,  between   Christians,  according    to 


INDEX  359 

William  Ames,  IGS;  Robinson's  discussion  of,  165-185; 
conditioned  by  faith  and  church  order,  169;  Robinson's 
treatment  of  theme  in  "Essays,"  297 

Congregations  of  Separatists  in  London  and  tlie  North  of  Eng- 
land,— no  intimate  connection  between,  41 

"Connivance  at  Sin," — Robinson's  tlieorj'  regarding,  HO 

Convocations  of  1603-4,  24 

Covenant,  in  tlie  church,  121,  122 

Cushman,  Robert, — sent  to  England  by  Leyden  Church  in 
1617,  231;  in  1619,  234 

Decrees,  God's, — discussed  by  Robinson,  152 

"Defence  of  Doctrine  Propounded  by  the  Synod  at  Dort," — 
why  wTitten  by  Robinson,  160,  161 

Democracy, — in  relation  to  aristocracy  and  monarchy  in  the 
church,  124,  125;  term  avoided  by  Robinson  while  its  con- 
tent preserved,  201,  202 

Dexter,  Henry  M., — discussion  of  the  "Farewell  Address," 
251-257;  investigation  of  Sumner's  claims  regarding  Rob- 
inson's death  and  burial,  317;  found  Walaeus-Hommius 
document,  331 

Discipline,  Church, — how  administered  m  Leyden,  200,  201 

Durie,  Rev.  Robert, — pastor  in  Leyden,  135;  admitted  to 
Leyden  University,  144 

Dutch  Churches, — their  theology,  157 

Edward  VI  of  England, — religious  changes  during  his  reign, 

7,8 
Elders, — their  qualifications  and  autliority,   198,   199;  their 

place  in  the  congregation,  123-125;  in  Barrow's  teaching, 

21 
Elizabeth,  Queen, — religious  changes  during  her  reign,  10-22 
Emigration  from  Leyden  to  America, — reasons  for,  227-229; 

decided  upon,  237 
England, — peculiar  seed  ground  for  Protestant  Reformation,  5 
Episcopius,  Simon, — Robinson's  debate  with,  157-161 


360  INDEX 

Episcopate, — in  teaching  of  Cartwright,  13;  of  Whitgift,  Ban- 
croft, Bilson,  14 

"Essays,"  Robinson's, — their  value,  300 

Euring,  Wilham, — copies  out  sermon  by  Yates  for  Robinson, 
213 

Exiles,  English, — on  the  continent  under  Queen  Mary,  9 

"Farewell  Address,''  the  so-called, — reported  by  Edward 
Winslow,  243-247;  occasion  of  its  delivery,  247-249; 
Winslow's  report  questioned  by  George  Sumner,  249; 
internal  evidence  as  to  its  genuineness,  250;  Henr}^  Mar- 
tyn  Dexter's  interpretation,  251-257;  discussion  of  this 
in  detail,  253-257 ;  consistency  of  this  "Address"  with 
the  body  of  Robinson's  teaching,  258-263 
Flight  under  Persecution,  Robinson's  discussion  of,  217,  218 
Fuller,  Samuel, — chosen  deacon  in  Ley  den,  206 

Gainsborough, — description  of,  57,  58;  Separatist  congregation 
in,  44-46;  memorial  church  to  Robinson  erected  there,  324 
God, — His  sovereignty  and  providence,  152 
Gomarius,  Francis,  opponent  of  Arminius,  157 
Gordon,  Rev.  Alexander, — his  article  on  Robinson  in  "Dic- 
tionary of  National  Biography,"  159 
Greenwood,  John,  19 

Hall,  Joseph, — wrote  against  Robinson,  110 

Hampton  Court  Conference,  23 

Helwisse,  Thomas,  Robinson's  controversies  with,  150,  217-221 

Henry  VIII  of  England, — religious  changes  during  his  reign, 

5-7 
Holland, — why  sought  by  Separatists,  83 
Hommius,    Festus, — his     testimony     concerning    Robinson, 

331,332 

James  I  of  England, — received  Millenary  petition,  22;  called 


INDEX  361 

Hampton  Court  Conference,  23;  refused  to  grant  petition 
of  Leyden  Church  for  rehgious  freedom  in  America,  233 

Jcgon,  John,  02,  09 

Jepson,  Wilhain. — joint  purchaser  with  Robinson  of  Leyden 
house,  137 

Johnson,  Francis, — pastor  of  the  Ancient  London  Church,  21; 
went  to  America,  229;  inchned  toward  aristocratic  organ- 
ization of  the  church,  190-192 

"  Lawfuhiess  of  Hearing"  pubH^hcd,  178;  the  preface  quoted, 

179-183 
Lawnc,  Christopher, — claimed  as  author  of  "The   Profane 

Schisme,"  167 
Leyden  Church, — removal  from  Amsterdam,  133,  134;  not 

granted  place  of  worship  by  authorities  in  Leyden, 135, 136 ; 

their  form  of  worship,  207;  described  by  Winslow,  223; 

described  by  Bradford,  140-143;  determined  to  move  to 

America,  231;  reasons  for  this  determination,  227-229; 

petitioned  Dutch  New  Xetherland  Co.,  235;  sent  "Seven 

Articles"  to  England,  328 
Lord's  Supper, — in  canons  of  1603-4,  36 

Mary,  Queen, — religious  changes  during  her  reign,  8,  9 
Merchant  Adventurers, — their  relation  to  Robinson,  306-310 
Millenary  Petition,  22,  23 
Ministers,  Anglican, — sphere  of  their  labors  defined  by  canons, 

29-32 
Murton,  John,  author  of  "A  True  Description,"  150 

Necessity  and  Compulsion, — how  different,  153 
Norwich,  Religious  conditions  in,  68,  69 

Officers  of  the  Church,  how  many,  126,  127 
"Of  Religious  Communion,"  published  in  1614,  150,  169;  its 
influence  in  Amsterdam,  173-175 


362  INDEX 

Order  of  the  Church, — an  object  of  faith,  117,  118 
Orders  in  the  Church  of  England,  Candidates  for,  28,  29 

Paget,  John, — pastor  in  Amsterdam,  88;  published  "An 
Arrow,"  173,  174 

Parish,  in  the  Church  of  England,  27;  attacked  by  Robinson, 
119 

Perkins,  William,  influenced  Robinson,  64 

Polity,  Church,  an  object  of  faith,  117,  118 

Prayer  Book,— of  Edward  VI,  7;  in  canons  of  1603-4,  37 

Presbytery,  its  functions  treated  by  Robinson,  198,  199 

Printing,  Difficulty  of,  m  England,  103,  104 

Puritanism,  Beginnings  of,  in  England,  11;  defined  by  Cart- 
wright,  13,  14 

Puritans,  become  a  party,  12;  oppose  Separatists,  81,  82;  many 
kept  from  becoming  Separatists  by  hardship,  228 

Reformation,  the  Protestant, — its  course  in  England  sketched, 
5-24 

Reformation  of  Abuses  impossible  in  Church  of  England,  the 
ground  of  the  Separation,  114-117 

Reformed  Churches,  Robinson's  relation  to,  207,  208 

Robinson,  John,  no  contemponary  biography  of,  55;  personal 
elements  in  his  preserA^ed  writings,  55;  date  and  place  of 
birth,  56;  ancestry,  58;  life  in  Cambridge,  60-62;  religious 
experience  called  conversion,  63,  64;  took  orders  in  the 
Church  of  England,  65,  66,  93;  work  m  Norwich,  67-72; 
troubles  with  ecclesiastical  authorities,  69;  sought  to  free 
himself  from  censure  of  the  Church  of  England,  70; 
sued  unsuccessfully  for  appointment  to  a  chaplaincy, 
70,  71;  went  to  Cambridge  from  Norwich,  71-74; 
reached  Gainsborough,  74;  subjective  history  of  his 
decision  for  Separation,  74-78;  chosen  pastor  of 
Scrooby  Church  in  Amsterdam,  93,  94;  ordained  pas- 
tor   of    Scrooby    Church,    96;    recognized    and   defined 


INDEX  363 

tendencies  to  disruption  in  Separation,  99,  100;  wrote 
against  William  Ames  in  Amsterdam,  102,  103,  110, 
167;  a  defender  of  the  Separation,  100;  the  spirit  of  his 
earliest  controversies,  112;  attacked  royal  supremacy, 
113;  denied  apostolic  character  of  the  Church  of  England, 
114;  defined  the  grounds  of  the  Separation,  115-117;  ac- 
cepted Thirty-nine  Articles,  117,  150;  refused  at  first  to 
join  John  Smyth  on  the  ground  of  disagreement  concern- 
ing rigid  Separation,  128;  committed  himself  to  rigid  Sep- 
aration, 128,  129,  165;  reasons  for  change,  129,  130; 
bought  house  in  Leyden,  136-140;  not  a  communist,  139, 
140;  names  of  family,  143,  312;  admitted  to  Leyden  Uni- 
versity, defended  Calvinistic  creed  of  Dort,  149-161;  his 
dogmatic  views  inflexible,  151;  subtle  distmctions  in  his 
reasoning,  155;  disputed  publicly  with  Episcopius,  157- 
161;  his  use  of  Scripture,  172;  Paget's  testimony  concern- 
ing his  fellowship  in  Leyden,  174,  175;  wrote  "Manu- 
mission" to  Ames,  1615,  175,  176;  wrote  letters  to  church- 
es in  London  and  Amsterdam,  176;  taught  that  Separatists 
might  attend  the  services  in  the  Church  of  England,  177; 
his  tolerant  spirit  sho-rni  in  preface  to  ' '  Lav.fulness  of 
Hearing,"  179-183;  answered  request  of  thirty  members 
of  the  Ancient  London  Church  for  counsel,  193,  194;  went 
to  Amsterdam  after  deposition  of  Ains worth  from  office, 

194,  195;  futile  effort  to  reconcile  factions  in  Amsterdam, 

195,  197;  proposed  "middle  way"  to  Ancient  London 
Church,  196;  work  as  pastor  in  Leyden,  206,  221 ;  relation 
to  Reformed  Churches  in  Leyden,  207,  208;  controversy 
with  Yates,  212-214;  went  to  Rotterdam  with  Brewer, 
216;  controversy  with  Helwisse  regarding  l)aptism  and 
flight  from  persecution,  217,  218;  his  missionary  motive, 
228;  originated  with  Brewster  the  plan  for  emigration  to 
America,  230;  a  prime  mover  in  all  negotiations  to  this 
end,  231;  drew  up  articles  defining  relation  of  Leyden 
Church  to  other  churciies,  232;  published    "Apologia," 


364  INDEX 

1619  and  1625,  209, 311 ;  persistent  in  the  emigration  plan, 
234;  preached  to  people  before  departure  for  America, 
238;  went  with  emigrating  members  to  Delf shaven,  238; 
took  leave  of  them,  239;  examination  of  the  so-called 
"Farewell  Address,"  243-263;  preached  two  sermons 
previous  to  departure  of  emigrants  to  America,  248; 
"Essays"  published,  1625,  267;  their  value  as  interpreting 
his  character,  268;  his  essay  on  "Religion,"  270-276;  his 
essay  on  "The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Things,"  277-279;  his 
idea  of  God,  280-284;  compared  with  St.  Francis  of  Assisi, 
284,  347;  his  essay  "Of  Created  Goodness,"  and  practical 
counsels  concerning  conduct,  285-288;  his  regard  for  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  291;  his  essay  "Of  Truth,"  293, 
294;  his  essay  "Of  Society,"  295-297;  his  essay  "Of 
Health  and  Physic,"  298-300;  life  in  Leyden,  1620-1625, 
303-323;  regarded  as  pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  303; 
wrote  letter  to  emigrants,  304;  intended  to  go  to  Ply- 
mouth, 306;  removal  opposed  by  Merchant  Adventurers, 
309;  wrote  and  published  several  books,  1624,  1625,  311; 
buried  two  children  in  Leyden,  312;  his  death,  313;  funeral 
in  Leyden,  315-318;  burial  place,  318-320;  memorial  tab- 
lets in  Le3^den,  321-323;  memorial  church  erected  in 
Gainsborough,  324;  his  relation  to  the  Reformed  Churches 
in  Holland  examined,  324-335;  testimony  of  Walaeus 
and  Hommius  concerning  this  relationship,  331-335;  as  a 
controversialist,  289,  339-341;  his  religion,  341-343;  his 
love  of  nature,  344;  an  optimist,  345;  his  passion  for  right- 
eousness, 347-350;  his  learning,  350;  his  impression  upon 
his  church,  353;  estimate  of  his  place  in  historj'-,  354,  355; 
Professor  Williston  Walker's  estimate,  v 
Royal  Supremacy,  defined,  25;  attacked  by  Robinson,  113 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin, — aided  Leyden  delegates  in  England,  232 
Scrooby,  identified  by  Hunter,  42;  general  character  of  country 
around,  43 


INDEX  305 

Scrool)y  Church, — Separatist  congregation  gathered  there, 
46-51;  became  object  of  ecclesiastical  persecution,  81; 
prevented  from  emigrating  to  Holland,  S3-S7;  finally 
reached  Amsterdam,  88;  maintained  independent  organi- 
zation there,  90;  effected  organization,  91-96;  conditions 
in  Amsterdam  uncongenial,  98,99, 190;  petitioned  Leyden 
authorities  for  permission  to  settle  there,  101 ;  moved  to 
Leyden,  105     (See  Leyden  Church) 

Separation, — in  Browne's  teaching,  16;  in  Barrow's  teaching, 
20;  in  Canons  of  1603-4,  26;  its  grounds  defined  by  Rob- 
inson, 115-117;  its  extent  defined  by  Robinson,  127-130, 
171;  its  extent  in  Amsterdam,  165 

Separatists,  in  Middelberg,  18 

"Seven  Articles"  of  Leyden  Church,  328-330 

Smyth,  John, — his  connection  with  Separatists  in  Gains- 
borough, 45,  46;  his  congregation  in  Amsterdam,  89,  90; 
opposed  to  Robinson,  93;  formed  church  on  Baptist  prin- 
ciples together  with  Helwisse,  219 

State  and  Church, — in  Cartwright's  teaching,  13;  in  Browne's 
teaching,  17 

Studley,  Daniel, — wrote  to  Sanmel  Fuller  denouncing  Leyden 
brethren,  192 

Subscription,  Oath  of,  26,  33-35 

Sumner,  George,  questioned  Winslow's  report  of  "Farewell 
Address,"  249;  his  discussion  regarding  Robinson's  fu- 
neral, 316-318;  located  Robinson's  burial  place,  318 

Thirty-nine  Articles, — under  Edward    VI,   8;   in   canons  of 

1603-4,  26;  accepted  by  Robinson,  117 
Tickens  (or  Thickens),  Ralph,  joint  purchaser  with  Robinson 

of  house  in  Leyden,  137 

Virginia  Company,  granted  patent  to  members  of  Leyden 
Church;  never  used,  234 


366  INDEX 

Walaeus,  A.,  testimony  concerning  Robinson,  331,  332 

Weston,  Thomas,  counsellor  of  Robinson,  236 

White,  Bridget,  wife  of  Robinson,  138 

White,  Jane,  married  Ralph  Tickens,  137,  138 

White,  Roger,  reported  Robinson's  death,  312,  313 

Winslow,  Edward,  reported  Robinson's  so-called  "Farewell 
Address,"  243-247;  testimony  concerning  P^obinson's 
relation  to  other  churches  in  Holland,  324-327;  testi- 
mony concerning  Robinson's  funeral,  315 

Wood,  Henry,  joint  purchaser  with  Robinson  of  house  in 
Ley den,  137 

Yates,  John,  opposed  Robinson  regarding  lay  preaching, 
212-214 


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